The Invitation
by ejb
Summary: Grandma and John take a trip to England to stay with Lady Penelope. T.V. Verse. Story Complete.
1. Chapter 1

Thunderbirds and the Tracy family are the creation of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson. I don't own the rights, somebody else does.

Grateful thanks to my two Beta readers, Quiller and Lynn for their help and wonderful advice.

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THE INVITATION

Chapter One

"Now are you sure you have everything you need, Mother?" Jeff Tracy asked as the family stood in the lounge in the villa on Tracy Island.

"I hope so, Jeff," she replied, looking around at her pile of luggage that was to be transported down to the hangar and into the hold of the jet that was to fly her and John to Sydney. From there they would board the Fireflash to London to take up the invitation to stay at the mansion of Lady Penelope.

"Good, I think John is just about ready to leave. He's already taken his bags down and put them in the jet," Jeff said. Then he added "Gordon, take these bags down will you please? We'll be down in a few minutes."

"Sure thing, Dad," Gordon answered. "You'll love it at Penelope's, Grandma," he added. "Scott's going to miss your cooking though."

"As long as you enjoy yourself, Grandma, I guess I can just about manage until you get back," Scott told her.

"Well you needn't starve because I've left plenty of pies in the freezer," she answered. "Oh dear, I hope her house is not too big and I end up getting lost inside."

"Don't worry, Mrs Tracy, I'm sure you won't and John will look after you, too. I'll look after everybody here so you relax and get waited on for a change," Tin Tin reassured her.

"It's been a while since John had a vacation and the rest will do him good." Jeff said. "That is if he ever gets himself back here ready to go. Where on earth has he gotten to?"

Right on cue John entered the lounge. "Jet's ready and prepped, Virgil," he told his brother. Virgil had volunteered to pilot their grandmother and John to Sydney. "Ready to go now, Grandma?" John asked. "Where's your luggage?"

"Gordon's taken it down," Virgil told him.

A few minutes later Ruth Tracy was on board the jet sitting beside her blonde haired grandson. Virgil checked the instrument panels in front of him in the pilot's seat, while the rest of the residents of Tracy Island gathered on the airstrip to see them off. Jeff was ready to give Virgil air clearance.

"All set, Grandma?" Virgil asked as he turned and smiled at her. "Hold on to your hat, we're about to take off."

The jet soared high into the early morning sky. The eldest member of the Tracy clan looked out of the window to the sight of a beautiful red sunrise over the Pacific Ocean. She felt a little excited now as she thought of staying in one of England's stately homes and was pleased at long last that she was able to take up Lady Penelope's invitation to visit her.

The journey to Sydney was quick and uneventful. After they landed at the airport Virgil helped John get the luggage out of the hold and it was taken on board the huge Fireflash plane.

"Oh my, that plane looks so big," Ruth Tracy said as she caught sight of the Fireflash for the first time. "Are you sure it's safe to fly in?"

Virgil and John exchanged knowing glances. "Grandma I think I can safely say that you'll be flying in one of the safest planes ever built. The number of safety checks it's had along with the tightest security codes make it that way," Virgil reassured her.

"Come on, Grandma, we should check in now," John told her as he took her by the arm to lead her in the direction of the airport lounge.

"I'd better not go in with you," Virgil told them. "I'm not sure who the crew is and I don't want to be seen in case I'm recognized." He took his grandmother in his arms and hugged her before giving her a kiss on her cheek.

"Enjoy yourself, Grandma, and keep John out of trouble," he told her.

"I will, darling," she replied before returning a kiss to him. "Now don't forget to do that shopping while you're here. Kyrano is waiting for some of the things on that list."

"I'll go as soon as you leave," Virgil said, then exchanged a brief hug with John and wished him goodbye. He returned to the jet to do the necessary checks needed before flying home again. He would have liked to be in the city for a short stay but with John away there wouldn't be enough cover should an emergency call come in. Still it was a bit of a break for him just to look around the stores before getting the items on the shopping list.

Once on board the ultra-supersonic airliner, Ruth finally began to relax a little and enjoy the comfort and luxury in the spacious compartment that first class travel brought. She sat sipping her favourite cognac, then put down the magazine she had been reading and looked at her grandson sitting opposite her. John was engrossed in an astronomy magazine, until he became aware that he was being watched.

"You okay, Grandma?" John asked. He was a little worried in case the journey may prove to be a little tiring for the old lady and he felt responsible for her wellbeing.

"I'm fine, sweetie," she replied. "Just wondering what your grandfather would have made of all this." She indicated to the plane's interior and added, "And me, too, flying off to the other side of the world after never ever setting foot outside of Kansas for most of my life. That is until your Daddy started reaching for the stars instead of doing what we all expected him to do, to be a wheat farmer and keep his feet firmly on the ground. Then suddenly I'm in Texas, Florida, New York and finally the South Pacific, following him around to wherever his dreams took him. Now to England, with not many places left to see at this rate."

"I can think of somewhere for you to go next, Grandma," John laughed. Then he said in a low voice, "After traveling around the world, how about flying above it and paying me a visit once or twice when I'm on duty. Then you can say you have achieved just about everything."

"I'll bear that in mind young man. Now how long will it be before we get to London?" she asked before taking another sip of her drink again.

"We'll be there before you know it. We have two stops on the way, San Francisco and New York, and then you can really enjoy yourself seeing London," John told her, and added, "If I know Penny, she'll have got lots of things lined up for you. While you're doing that, I can go to Cheshire County and call on a friend who works there as a lecturer in astronomy at Jodrell Bank."

"Oh, you hadn't mentioned that you were doing that, John!" His grandmother answered with a surprised expression. "Who is he?"

"His name's Steve Sanders and we met when we were both at Harvard. We've kept in touch ever since even though we followed different career paths after leaving. He thinks I'm working for Tracy Aerospace and writing and lecturing on astronomy in my spare time," John told her.

She smiled and thought how much John deserved to have this little break and meet his friend again Being up in that satellite alone for six months of the year was an abnormal existence for anybody and she had told Jeff this time and time again, but still she had to suffer losing two of her precious grandsons to that fate. "In that case, you go and see your friend, darling. I'll be fine with Penny taking care of me."

To pass the remainder of the journey a movie was shown on a big screen in the lounge of the plane for anybody who wanted to watch it. For those that didn't they could go into another compartment. John and his grandmother opted to stay, but before long John became bored with watching it and returned to his astronomy magazine, wryly observing that his equally bored traveling companion had nodded off to sleep.

Soon the journey ended and the plane landed safely at London Airport in the early summer afternoon. John helped his grandmother down the steps of the plane and they went into the lounge where Lady Penelope was waiting to greet them.

"John, dear, it is so nice to see you again," she gave him a hug. "I hope you had a pleasant journey."

"I did but it was a bit lonesome with Grandma asleep best part of it," John laughed and waited for a denial or an excuse from his grandmother.

"I was not asleep young man, I was just resting my eyes from the sun," Ruth stated. "We're nearer to it then when we're up in the air."

Lady Penelope turned to Ruth, and hugged her as well. "Welcome to England, Mrs Tracy, I am so pleased you decided to come here."

Fortunately the route to Foxleyheath was on the same side of London, as the airport. So Parker was able to drive down the leafy suburbs and into the Sussex countryside without too much delay from traffic holdups. Within half an hour they were approaching the entrance gates to the Foxleyheath Estate and the magnificent home of Lady Penelope.

"I'd better let Dad know we got here safely," John said.

"Wait until later, John," Lady Penelope reminded him. "They will still be in bed. Get

settled in first and then we'll dine. By the time we are finished with dinner, your father and the rest of the family should be up and about to go for breakfast."

"Oh yeah, I forgot about time difference. That Fireflash sure is a fast plane to travel in," John remarked and turned and smiled at his grandmother. "I wonder who's helping Kyrano make breakfast. I bet they'll miss you."

Scott sat looking at the breakfast that had just been placed in front of him. Virgil was eating his with the same enthusiasm as he always did until he noticed Scott's sudden apparent lack of appetite. "Feeling okay, Scott?" he asked.

"I feel fine. Whose idea was it to put Gordon on breakfast duty?" his elder brother asked.

Gordon came over with a tray of pancakes and put them on the table. "What's the matter, Scott, don't you trust my cooking or something?" he asked with a smile.

"Oh I trust your cooking, it's the ingredients that worry me," Scott replied. "I haven't forgotten that fried egg joke you pulled that time."

"Now as if I would do that to you, again, and besides Grandma made me promise not to mess around in the kitchen while she was away," Gordon told him. "Seeing as I'm usually up first, I thought I'd volunteer. There's something else I've got to consider, too."

"What's that?" Scott asked.

"Your age, a man needs plenty of good nourishment inside him when he's getting on a bit." Gordon laughed and darted quickly away from the table as Scott made a grab for him.

Jeff came into the kitchen at that point and interrupted the action. "Well boys, John has just called in to say that they've gotten there okay. They had a good trip and have arrived at Penny's and just had dinner, so now we can relax."

"That's terrific, Dad," Gordon told him as he handed his father his breakfast and then got his own. I bet Grandma is really enjoying herself now."

"I just hope she learns to relax and take it easy," Jeff said. "She's never been used to being waited on. I just hope she keeps away from the kitchen and doesn't upset the staff there."

"Don't worry about it, Dad," Scott told him, as he began to cautiously eat his breakfast. "Penny will keep her busy."

"Well I hope so. It's just the idea of your grandmother and Penny's cook, Lil, trying to impress each other with their own ideas about cooking that bothers me." Jeff continued with his concern. "Remember the rivalry between Kyrano and Parker when they first met here?"

"I remember having to buy a lot of replacement glasses on a trip to the mainland," Virgil laughed. "Don't worry, Dad, I'm sure it won't be as bad as that."

"I hope so, son," Jeff replied. "I had a quiet word with John about it and asked him to try and keep her out of there."

Lady Penelope and her guests had moved from the dining room to the grand drawing room for the remainder of the evening. "I thought we'd stay here and have a little talk," she told them. "I usually use the lounge in the east wing but I have put you in the bedroom above here, Mrs Tracy, so it's not so far for you to walk. I expect you will be feeling tired after the journey."

"Thank you, dear, but I hope someone comes and gets me in the morning. This house is so big and I don't know my around it."

"Don't worry, Grandma," John told her. "I'll come and get you and we can both go down for breakfast together. You'll soon find your way around."

"Well I hope so, John, if you are going off to see your friend and leaving me here," she replied looking around her anxiously.

Lady Penelope was surprised at this new piece of information. "You're leaving us, John? When?"

"I plan to go up to Jodrell Bank to see a friend who works there. I'll stay here for a couple of days and then go on the monorail and stay overnight with him. He's invited me to his home to meet his family. I've haven't seen him since we left Harvard so I thought it would be a good opportunity," John replied.

"It certainly will be, dear. I'll take your grandmother up to London and we can stay overnight, too. Tomorrow though, I'll give you a tour of the house and the estate, Mrs Tracy." Lady Penelope got up and pulled a tasseled cord beside the white marble fireplace. "Now I'll call Parker and we can all have some after-dinner drinks served while we continue our little conversation."

Parker was sitting watching an exciting football match in his room when the bell summoning him upstairs rang. "Typical," he muttered under his breath. "Just h'as they score the first goal, h'I 'ave to go h'up, H'I s'pose they want drinks now."

A few minutes later Parker appeared at the door. "You rang, M'Lady?"

"Yes, Parker, you may serve drinks now. What would you like, Mrs Tracy, and you, John?"

After the drinks were served Parker asked, "Will you require h'any more, M'Lady? Shall h'I leave the decanters 'ere for you to 'elp yourselves?"

"Yes, thank you, Parker, we may have another glass each before we retire. You may leave us now."

"Very well, M'Lady," Parker bowed and slowly left the room. After closing the door he dashed back down the stairs to return to the football game and saw to his dismay that he'd missed another two goals being scored.

DAY ONE

The next morning Ruth Tracy woke up to a lovely sunny morning. She had slept much better than she thought she would in strange surroundings and put it down to the journey the previous day and two cognacs before going to bed last evening. She rose and put on her robe, then looked out of the window. The view was indeed spectacular with magnificent well kept gardens that stretched out before her just bursting with colour from the variety of summer flowers now out in full bloom. After showering in the en-suite bathroom, she dressed and tidied her bed, and then waited for John to call for her as he had promised.

She looked around the room while she waited. There were various paintings of landscapes on the walls and a portrait of a lady in what appeared to be Victorian clothes above the fireplace. Curiosity got the better of her and she went to read the name at the bottom of the portrait. "Lady Ann Kerr-Doulton," she said out loud. "I wonder why these fancy people have to have two last names. Perhaps I should call myself, Ruth Peterson-Tracy, though that just doesn't sound right to me."

Just then a knock at the door heralded her blonde haired guide who would escort her back to the dining room for breakfast. She was determined to mark the route with her own eyes this morning.

"Good morning, Grandma," John said as he gave her a little kiss on the cheek. "Did you sleep well?"

"Yes, darling, and if you show me the way to the dining room I'll be able to find my own way there tomorrow," she replied giving him a little hug.

"Okay, Grandma, let's go," John took her arm and led her through corridors lined with paintings and down a thickly carpeted staircase until the dining room was reached.

"Good morning, Mrs Tracy, I trust you slept well?" her hostess enquired of her.

"Yes, thank you," Ruth replied

"Good. Come and sit down both of you and have breakfast. Then we can go on our tour of the house and as it is such a lovely day, I'll take you around the estate, there is so much to see. I'm sure you will love the Home Farm and Deer Park. John can drive the Land Rover and that will give Parker some free time to catch up on his other duties. The cleaning staff is due in today and he will have to supervise them."

After breakfast, Lady Penelope showed Ruth around the house as promised. John opted to stay in the library and enjoy sampling some of the books and magazines on offer while they did so. John had always been considered the bookworm of the family and seeing so many titles and subjects, it was an opportunity too good to miss.

They finished off the tour in the North Reception room. "Now we can sit down and have some morning coffee, before we go out on to the estate," Lady Penelope told her elderly guest. "I'll call Parker and tell him to ask John to join us. I expect he's still in the library where we left him."

"If I know John, he will be," his grandmother replied. "That boy has had his nose in a book from the moment he learned how to turn a page over. His brothers would be playing all around him when they were all small, but he'd only join in with their games when he felt like it."

She glanced at the painting above the fireplace. It showed a landscape of high snow clad mountains and tall fir trees and in the centre was a lake. Lady Penelope caught her glance and smiled. "Do you like that one? Dear Virgil painted it from memory after a rescue in Switzerland. I saw it after he finished painting it and begged him to let me buy it from him but he would not hear of me paying for it, he was just happy to let me have it in my home."

"He's just so talented," Ruth answered still looking at the painting. Her eyes were drawn to the signature of VT in flourishing letters in the bottom left corner. "Art and music, just like his mother. He could make a living for himself in that direction if he was not involved in doing what he does now. "You have a lovely home here Penelope but don't you get a little lonesome in this big place?"

"Well to tell you the truth, I am rarely in here like this." Lady Penelope replied. "I have a full social diary and my, er other work, to keep me busy. I have put some of it aside though for now to welcome you here."

John entered the room followed by Parker with a trolley laden with a coffee pot and small china cups, cream and sugar. There was also a selection of biscuits to choose from. Ruth eyed the coffee cups and couldn't believe the size of them. 'Like drinking from a doll's play set,' she thought to herself. 'One sip and its finished. My Grant would have laughed if he'd been given such a tiny cup to drink from.'

"Will there be h'anything h'else, M'lady?" Parker asked after he finished placing the trolley in position for serving.

"You can bring the Land Rover down for us please, Parker, so we can go out after we have finished our coffee. John will be driving. Tell Cook we shall be back for lunch at 2 o'clock."

"Very well, Madam," Parker replied as he left the room leaving the three occupants to enjoy their refreshments while he went over to the garage.

"Well this is certainly not like the farm we had in Kansas," Ruth remarked later as she stood looking over the field full of grazing cattle. "We concentrated on wheat. There were a few chickens and geese we kept to feed the family but that was the limit for livestock."

"This is a mixed farm, so we keep cattle, pigs and fowl and grow a small variety of crops. I don't keep sheep here though, that is reserved for my Australian home at Bonga Bonga. I have good tenant farmers to run the place here," Lady Penelope told both her and John. "I'm afraid these estates are so expensive to run these days and it is a good source of income, that and opening the house and grounds to the public for two days a week in the summer season. FAB 3 brings in a little extra when I race her and she wins."

"Do you keep her here?" John asked. "I'd like to see her."

"No she's stabled at Newbury where her trainer works. I keep two other horses here though to ride and they keep each other company. They are up in the stable block, you can see them later," she answered. "I enjoy riding, it's such good exercise."

"I used to love that," Ruth said with a far away look on her face. "Long before I was married my father kept some on his farm for us. My horse was called Katy and I loved her, such a friendly animal. I used to ride her along side my sister on her horse, Polly, we'd be gone for hours after we finished our chores at the weekend."

John stood looking at his grandmother wide eyed with amazement and tried to imagine her riding a horse. This was a new revelation to him. This wonderful, practical and down to earth person who had helped raise him and his brothers after the death of their mother had never seemed the type to be a horse rider and never mentioned it as far as he knew.

His grandmother caught his quizzical glance and raised one eyebrow before saying to him, "What you staring at me like that for young man? I'll have you know I wasn't born old you know. I wanted to keep horses after I married your grandfather but there was never enough money or time, what with trying to help him run the place and looking after a small boy who could find one hundred and one ways to get into all kinds of mischief when my back was turned, so the years just flew by."

"Dad got into mischief?" John asked with a huge smile on his face at this new revelation. "What did he do?"

"Now you just forget I said that," his grandmother replied knowing full well that her four other grandsons would be quickly informed of what she had just revealed as soon as John returned home to the island.

Lady Penelope quickly changed the subject for two reasons, the first being to protect Jeff from his mother's inadvertent slip and the other to save some time. "Come on let's go to the Deer Park. That's another area I have opened up to the public and I have had to add a few frills to it such as a picnic area and children's playground as well as a small cafeteria.

John led them back to the Land Rover as they began the next stage of the tour of the estate.

The day was still quite warm but a breeze had sprung up as they began to drive along the road through the centre of the park. "There have been red deer here since Norman times," Lady Penelope explained. Then thinking she should explain further just what 'Norman' times were she added. "That would be around the 11th century. The house stands on the site of an old Norman-built castle and the first owners brought the red deer here and our deer are descended from them. We keep them for venison, too, not that I like to have too many killed for that purpose. We usually just take a few each year to keep the numbers down. We try to keep around a hundred. I have a deer keeper who tends to their needs as they are not like ordinary cattle. Slow down a little, John, so your grandmother can have a good look at them."

They watched as a group of deer walked around a clump of trees and selected a fresh area to graze, totally ignoring the stares of the visitors who were admiring them so.

They drove on further into the park where more deer could be seen. "Ah here is my deer keeper now," Lady Penelope said as another Land Rover came from the opposite direction and stopped. "I think he wants to have a few words with me. Stop here please, John."

John stopped the vehicle and helped Lady Penelope out. She went over to speak to her employee so John decided to walk around the front to take some photographs of the deer as they waited. He saw a magnificent stag standing alone near a tree and caught that on camera; he then spotted some females with young fawns and took some pictures of those, too. He looked around and Lady Penelope was still deep in conversation with the deer keeper. His grandmother shouted from the open window of the Land Rover. "There's a lovely deer standing over there, John, can you take its picture?

John turned around to confront a huge female that he hadn't noticed before. After taking a photograph of her, the animal suddenly decided that she didn't much care for the invasion of her privacy and duly ran towards him to scare him away. "It's okay, girl, don't be scared," he told the deer thinking he had frightened it. "I won't hurt you."

The animal looked far from scared however and had every intention of removing John from her presence as it suddenly charged and began running towards him with head bowed down and ready to strike with it. John was caught between the deer and the safety of the Land Rover and did the only thing he thought he could possibly do, sought refuge in a nearby tree as quickly as could. He scrambled up the nearest one, thinking how grateful he was that the tree was easy to climb and that Scott had taught him how to climb a tree years ago when they were still kids.

John waited for a while for the deer to lose interest in him and began grazing on some nice long grass. Slowly, John climbed down from the tree intending to make a quick run to the Land Rover. He wasn't quick enough though and the deer spotted him and charged at him again. John barely made it back up the tree, thankful that it was only his shoe that had been bitten by the creature.

This time the deer was not going to give up on John as it circled the tree and kept looking up at her prey with a menacing look in her eyes, stamping one front hoof on the ground as she did so. John yelled for help from his precarious sanctuary among the leaves at the top of his voice, attracting the attention of Lady Penelope and the deer keeper who had not seen what had happened. Both turned around to see where the commotion was coming from.

"Oh no, John's met Ruby!" Lady Penelope exclaimed, "I should have warned him, I completely forgot about her."

Ruth Tracy looked on with horror from the safety of the Land Rover. Never had she felt so powerless to go to the aid of one of her family. She was just relieved that John was safe for now and hoped that the deer keeper and Lady Penelope could do something to help.

"Do something, Hargreaves!" Lady Penelope shouted to the man beside her. John may fall out of that tree any minute and get hurt."

"You go back into the car, Madam," he told her. Your movement might distract her for a few seconds. I'll get her away from there."

'Ruby' had no intention of being distracted from her quarry and continued to stand her ground and gaze up into the tree at John. "Why aren't you like other deer?" John growled at the creature, "You're supposed to be scared of humans."

Hargreaves took a starting pistol from his car and fired it twice. The noise was loud enough to make John jump in shock and he quickly seized the branch again to prevent himself from falling. He was pleased though because the sound had sent his would be attacker running away in fear along with several other deer.

The deer keeper went over to the tree and helped John down, "It's safe now, son, go and get in the car," he told him. "Boy, she's a mean one, she's the matriarch of the herd."

John wasted no time and did just that after thanking his rescuer. "Are you alright, John, dear?" Lady Penelope enquired. "If you like I'll drive now while you recover from that little shock."

"No thanks, Penny, I'm fine and not getting out of this seat until we are safely away from here," he answered, gripping the steering wheel tightly to emphasize that he had no intention of moving.

"I thought deer were pretty stupid creatures," Ruth remarked. "All the ones I met were and used to run away from people."

"They all are here, except Ruby," Lady Penelope explained. "When the park is open to the public we have to make sure she is locked up. I'm so sorry, John, I should have made sure she was today, too."

"It's okay, she didn't get me," he replied as he started the engine of the Land Rover. "Should we be getting back now it is almost 2'o'clock?"

"Yes, John, lunch will be ready and I'm sure we could all do with a cup of tea after that little ordeal," Lady Penelope answered. "Then your grandmother and I will relax in the gardens afterwards and you can join us if you like, unless there is something else you would rather do?" .

John turned the Land Rover around to go back the way they had come. He was secretly relieved none of his brothers had witnessed that little predicament he'd just been in, especially Gordon and Alan. He'd never be able to live it down if they had.

Unknown to John though. Gordon, along with Scott, Virgil and Brains were presently involved in another rescue operation in Toronto. A gas explosion had caused a ten storey building to catch fire and partly collapse and some of the residents were still trapped inside because the elevator and staircase had been put out of action. The fire escape had also collapsed with the force of the blast. Virgil was desperately trying to keep the severely damaged wall from collapsing any further with the use of the Domo while Scott and Gordon were using the Mobile Crane to get as many people out from the upper floors as possible. The authorities feared that another explosion could occur and it was a race against time.

The first five floors had been the worst affected and had been checked first for survivors, the injured ones being removed and sent to hospital. Unfortunately there were some fatalities where the explosion had caused the most of the damage to the building.

Scott waited anxiously as Gordon worked high above him. The next four floors had been checked and cleared and he was working on the top floor now. Fortunately at this time of day a lot of the apartments were empty due to their residents being at work and this had saved some time, but all of them had to be checked anyway.

Gordon and the local firefighters were doing this and sending any residents they found towards the turntable ladders the Fire Department were using and when they were full Gordon was getting others aboard the Mobile Crane with him.

Virgil's voice coming through the radio of the Mobile Crane interrupted Scott from his thoughts. "How much longer will they be, Scott?" he asked with urgency in his voice. "I don't think I can hold this wall up much longer."

"They're about finished now, Virg," he answered. "Hang on and I'll check with Gordon."

"Mobile Crane to Gordon." Scott began his message. "Report in please on situation."

Gordon answered from his portable radio. He sounded out of breath from running through the building. "Gordon here, we've just finished loading up the turntables," he gasped. "I'm taking the rest out now to our platform to load them on. I've got a sick kid here and his mother, and two other women with babies."

"Well hurry it along, Gordon, you've go to get them out fast," his elder bother replied, "There's not much time left."

"Okay, Scott, I'll let you know when we're all aboard and you can bring us down," Gordon answered. He switched off the radio connection and quickly swooped up the sick child who was aged about six, from his mother's arms and into his, urging the women to follow him to the escape window where the safety platform was positioned ready for their escape.

Once they were all safely aboard. Gordon pressed the button on the console to let Scott know they were ready to be lowered down. Heaving a sigh of relief, Scott operated the controls and the arm of the crane began it's descent to earth.

The small boy, wrapped in a blanket in Gordon's arms lay gazing up at his rescuer. "What's wrong with him?" Gordon asked his mother.

"Just a stomach upset, the doctor said it was nothing serious," his mother replied. "He came home from school with it two days ago."

"How do you feel now, Jason?" she asked her son. "This nice man from International Rescue saved us. You can tell all of your friends that when you see them again."

"I don't know where we're going to go now," one of the other rescued women said. "This place is a mess, but we're just so lucky to be alive and that's all that counts."

"They'll find somewhere for us to go I suppose," Jason's mother replied, "You're right though. We are better off than those who lived further down."

They were almost down from the building when another huge explosion erupted from the building's basement. The blast caused the platform to rock slightly. Gordon was thrown back to the metal safety fence and the little boy began to cry. The Domo could not hold the already damaged wall any longer and the building began to collapse.

"It's okay, Jason, we're nearly down now," Gordon said to the boy to reassure him while trying to ignore the pain in his own back that the impact had given him.

Fire was beginning to engulf the rest of the building now. Scott told Virgil to get away with the Domo and then swung the platform away from the building and drove the Mobile Crane away as quickly as he could once the platform was down.

Once in a safe spot, the rescue authorities quickly took the women out of the Mobile Crane along with their babies. Gordon stepped out with Jason in his arms to hand him over, too, when the boy began to vomit all over his rescuer's chest.

"I'm so sorry," his mother said to Gordon as she took her son from him. "He's been doing so well today and had something to eat this morning. It must be all this trouble that has upset him. Thank you so much for what you did for us."

"That goes for both of us, too," Another of the rescued women said as she held her baby tightly in her arms before being led off to an evacuation point.

One of the rescue workers came forward and gave Gordon a cloth to clean himself up with. "It's all part of the service," he grinned as he wiped himself as best he could before rejoining Scott in the cabin of the Mobile Crane.

Scott eyed him suspiciously as he climbed back in and sat down. Then his nose began to twitch. "You okay?" he asked his red-haired brother.

"Oh yeah, I'm just fine," Gordon answered beginning to yawn, "I got dragged out of my bed to come here, run a marathon race through ten floors of an apartment block, ride up and down like a yo-yo on the crane getting people out and then a kid throws up all over me. Things couldn't be better."

"Now tell me the truth," Scott said, "I saw what the kid did. I meant when that blast caught the platform on the way down. You were holding your back when you were talking to those people and when you were walking back over here."

Gordon sat silent for a moment he knew he could never hide anything for long from his eldest brother. "I'm okay, Scott, relax will ya? I just banged against the rail, it's nothing. I'm tired so can we just go home now?"

The three brothers all met up in the pod of Thunderbird Two. Virgil had already put the Domo back in place and was brewing up some coffee. Brains was busy putting the Mobile Control unit back in Thunderbird One when Scott and Gordon drove in with the Mobile Crane. As soon as Scott turned off the engine Gordon got out and went to the washroom to remove his soiled and smelly uniform top and changed back into his tee shirt and pants before joining the others for a cup of coffee.

"Boy that was a close one," Virgil said as they began to talk about the rescue. "I didn't think the Domo would last that long holding that wall up."

"That second blast finally finished it," Scott said, "Which reminds me." He got up and went over to Gordon who was resigned to what was to come next. "I told you it's nothing, Scott," he told his brother who was intent on checking him over.

"Let me be the judge of that and we'll say no more about it then," Scott replied as he lifted Gordon's tee shirt up and looked at his back. There were signs of a bruise forming and Scott told him so.

"I'll be fine after I get some sleep," Gordon told him and then he added with a grin, "Tell you what, Scott, how worried are you about it?

"What's that supposed to mean?" Scott asked cautiously. When Gordon had that expression on his face, Scott was wary.

"Well I mean if you're really concerned big brother I could fly Thunderbird One back and get home a lot quicker than Virgil's flying Avocado here and be tucked up in bed and asleep by the time you both get home."

"No chance of that, kiddo, and I think you'd better apologise to Virgil or he won't take you back at all after insulting his 'bird like that," Scott told him.

"Yeah, you better do that right now," Virgil said as he approached his younger brother with a threatening look on his face.

"Okay, okay. I'm too tired to argue. Sorry, Virg. Just get us home as fast as you can huh?" Gordon admitted defeat and sat down and began to drink his coffee.

Virgil sat down and sighed. "Just think, there's John having a nice relaxing time at Penny's place this very minute while we do all the work. We should have sent Gordon with Grandma. Then we'd have had some peace.

"Yeah, living it up in a stately home, getting waited on hand and foot," Gordon agreed, "I wouldn't have minded swapping with him."

After lunch, John decided to go back into the library while his grandmother and Lady Penelope relaxed in the garden outside. He wanted to make a phone call to Steve Sanders to confirm the details about meeting with him the next day. That done, he began to read a very old book that had caught his eye earlier about the exploration of space. He laughed to himself as he turned the pages and read some of the theories that the author believed at the time but had long since been discounted. He sat down on the plush light brown sofa and continued to read a bit more, when his ears were alerted to a very faint scratching noise from under the floor to his right.

"Mice," he said out loud to himself. "Or even rats. I suppose even these big places get them the same as anywhere else. I'll have a quiet word with Parker. There's no sense in upsetting Penny, after what Virgil told me how she feels about them."

He listened for a while longer and the noise seemed to stop so he continued reading for a while, still amused with the old theories the book was presenting.

Ruth was enjoying relaxing in the afternoon sunshine with Lady Penelope in the Rose Garden. "You know, Penny dear, you have shown me most of the rooms in your home except the kitchen. I'd like to see that and meet your cook. Being one who enjoys cooking myself, I'd like to see it sometime."

"Now, Mrs Tracy, you're here to relax and forget about all that for a while," Lady Penelope told her. "Jeff insisted that you do. He knows how hard you work doing a lot of cooking for the family, even with Kyrano's help."

"Well that son of mine talks a lot of nonsense at times, I'm sorry to say," she replied. "He hasn't a clue how a woman's mind works when it comes to her favourite hobbies. No, dear, I really would like to see it."

"Well if you really insist, we can go now," Lady Penelope answered, "I expect Lily is busy planning dinner for tonight."

Lil placed a mug of tea on the bare wooden kitchen table in front of Parker who was sitting with his feet up on a kitchen stool reading a newspaper. "Ta, Lil, just what h'I need h'arfter making sure those cleaners got their work done proper h'and didn't smash h'anything while they were h'at it," he said.

"Never mind them," she said. "You still 'aven't told me abaht that old American girl we've got 'ere. I've met the boy before so I knows 'im."

"She's 'is granny," Parker replied. "Does most h'of the cooking for 'em all, she does. You want to watch it, Lil, she might be h'arfter your job," he added with a laugh.

"Does she now?" Lil replied, "You could 'ave told me and I would 'ave left 'er to it while I 'ad an 'oliday, could do with that, I could. Anyway I can't sit talking to you all day, I've got a meal to prepare. I 'ope she likes my cooking."

"Well I h'aint 'eard h'any complaints so far," he told her. "Tell you what, Lil, while you're cooking h'all that fancy muck for 'em, make me h'a nice plate of h'egg an chips, that's what h'I fancy."

"Oh yer do, do yer?" Lil replied. "Well that's easy enough to do once I've got their meal prepared."

John's ears pricked up as the sound of scratching began again; this time it seemed louder and a lot closer than before. Thinking he could catch Parker and have a word with him in private before Lady Penelope and his grandmother came back in, he got up and rang the bell that would summon the butler to the room.

"That's funny, h'I thought they was h'all h'outside," Parker said to Lil. "One h'of 'em must be in the libray. S'pose h'I'd better go and see what they want."

Parker was surprised to see John lying on his stomach on the floor of the library when he entered the room. "What's 'appened, sir, 'ave you 'ad h'an h'accident?" he asked with concern in his voice as he hurried over to where John was lying.

"No, Parker, sshh, can you hear scratching noises like mice or something?" John whispered to him.

Both men listened in silence for a few seconds, the scratching lasted for a few more minutes then suddenly ceased.

"Looks like we may 'ave mice again. H'I'll 'ave to go h'and get the traps h'out," Parker said. "Good job you told me, 'er Ladyship's got h'a fear h'of them."

"Yes I know," John replied. "That's why I wanted to get you on your own to tell you."

After Parker had left, John got up and sat on the sofa again. He listened, but all seemed silent now. The only sounds coming from the hall outside were from where his grandmother and Lady Penelope were, having re-entered the house from the terrace at the back, and going off to another room somewhere.

Parker came back into the room armed with some baited mouse traps he'd hidden in a bag in case Lady Penelope saw them.

"I haven't heard any more noises," John said. "Do you get much trouble with mice here?"

"Not much," Parker answered as he carefully lifted the traps out of the bag and began to place them behind the book shelves. "Get h'a lot h'of field mice down by the stables though h'and some come up 'ere."

Lady Penelope and Ruth entered the kitchen where Lil was busy cutting up water melon slices for the first course of the evening meal.

"Hello, Lily, I've brought a visitor to meet you and see your kitchen," her employer told her. "This is Mrs Tracy, a dear friend of mine and you remember meeting her son and grandsons on the different occasions they have stayed here."

"Pleased to meet you, M'am," Lil said giving a slight curtsey to Ruth.

"My goodness, this is a nice big kitchen to work in, bigger than ours," Ruth said as she looked around her. "I wouldn't mind doing some baking in here. Do you do a lot of baking?" she asked Lil.

"Only if Her Ladyship requests it," Lil answered still slicing the water melon. "She goes through the menus with me of a Monday, so's I knows what to make for the week."

"What a good idea. I'll have to try that when I get home, but then my lot don't care what they eat as long as its food, especially Scott," Grandma answered. "Well before I go, I must give you my recipe for apple pie, so when any of the boys come over here they can enjoy that."

"Yes, M'am, I'm sure they will," Lil answered, giving the remains of the water melon a vicious stab with the knife as she cut off the final slices.

"Now come along, Mrs Tracy, and let Lily get on with her work. It will soon be time for afternoon tea and we can have that in the lounge," Lady Penelope told her guest. "We can see if John has finished in the library and wants to join us."

They met John and Parker just coming out of the library. "Ah, Parker, there you are," Lady Penelope said. "We are just going into the lounge. You may serve afternoon tea in there now please."

"Very good, M'Lady," Parker replied and went towards the kitchen to arrange the task in hand.

Parker found Lil banging a few roasting tins together as she prepared the evening meal. "Put the kettle h'on, Lil, will yer? While h'I get the tea trolley set up for em," he asked her.

"Could do with some more staff 'round 'ere if you arsk me," she replied as she went to the sink to fill the kettle. "'Specially when she's entertaining, 'an that old girl only go's an tells me she'll give me 'er recipe for 'er apple pie. 'Ave you ever 'ad cause to complain about my apple pies?" Lil added as she banged the kettle down in her temper. "I mean anybody can make apple pie if they got any sense."

Parker laughed and said, "Ne'er mind, Lil, they're h'only 'ere for h'a week h'or so, h'an they're going h'out for the next coupla o' days, so you'll 'ave a bit of peace then.

Meanwhile in the lounge, Lady Penelope was busy discussing plans for the next day with her guests. "So we will leave here after breakfast tomorrow and see John off on the monorail to Cheshire. Then we will have a nice day in London, just the two of us, Mrs Tracy. Is there anything you would particularly care to see?"

"I'd like to see Buckingham Palace and some of the stores. Tin Tin tells me there are some really good stores in London," Ruth answered.

"Good, that's all settled then," Lady Penelope said. "And here's Parker now with our tea. I'll get him to make us some reservations at my usual hotel, so don't forget to pack an overnight case, then we can sit back and relax."

John sat back and relaxed then, by thinking of how glad he was not to be joining two women going around the stores of London. He was looking forward to seeing Steve again and seeing the Jodrell Bank observatory where he worked. They would have such a lot to talk about. What a pity he couldn't tell Steve that he spent most of his time in space now.

If only he'd known what the coming days had in store though, he would have wished he'd stayed right where he was in Lady Penelope's home.

20


	2. Chapter 2

DAY 2

The three Tracy brothers, and Brains were spending the day following the rescue by relaxing after the basic maintenance checks and refueling work had been carried out on the vehicles used as well as on Thunderbirds One and Two. Gordon's back was not badly bruised, and, as he predicted, once he had some rest it didn't give him any more trouble.

Scott was busy reading an account of the rescue in the newspaper. "It says here that the building was fifty storeys high," he said, "Why can't reporters print facts correctly?"

Virgil looked up from a magazine he was reading, "I guess it's to make the story a bit more sensational, sells more papers that way."

Gordon was waiting for Brains to make his next move at chess and added, "Or maybe

he just couldn't count, or didn't even bother looking so he plucked the number out of the air."

"Well I'm going to watch my new film," Scott said as he got up to go to his room. "At least the makers of documentaries get their facts reasonably accurate."

Scott went to his room and put the new documentary disc in the player. It was titled the History and Design of World War Two Aircraft. He'd seen it advertised in a magazine and decided to order it. He settled down to watch with a bottle of beer and some of Grandma's chocolate muffins that he had managed to spirit away from the kitchen after she'd baked them. He'd kept them in a storage box in his room for an occasion such as this, so he reclined on his bed and waited for the film to begin with eager anticipation.

Soon the film downloaded and the usual opening words about copyright appeared followed by a very familiar piece of music and then the opening titles. Scott looked in amazement at the screen and then realization hit him like a sledge hammer as he jumped up and switched the movie player off. "Gordon Tracy, so help me one of these days I'll kill you!" he said to the offending disc in his hand, "In fact I'd do it now if we weren't short handed with John being away."

He looked at the cover of the film he'd ordered and cursed himself for two reasons. First for mentioning to Gordon what film he'd sent for and secondly for letting Gordon go and collect the delivery from the mail plane earlier today. Thinking back on it, Gordon had been very eager to do that. He looked at the disc in his hand and wondered why he'd never noticed 'Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines' clearly written across the front. He checked the packaging and realized that it had not occurred to him that the sealing tape had been tampered with, so pleased he had been just to receive the parcel. He wondered where Gordon had put the film he'd ordered.

Scott returned to the lounge angrily to confront Gordon and found the only occupant there was Virgil who was about to begin playing the piano.

"Hi, Scott, I thought you were going to watch your film," he said.

"Where's Gordon?" Scott asked, ignoring Virgil's remark.

"He said he was going to help Dad over in the Round House," Virgil replied. "Brains won the chess game and he's gone down to the lab."

"Very convenient of him to do that," Scott said. "I can bide my time and wait until he comes back."

"Why, what's he done now?" Virgil asked

Scott proceeded to tell him about the film switch. "He'd better not have damaged my film wherever he's got it stashed. It won't be in his room, that would be too obvious for him. I was all ready to settle down and enjoy watching it."

"Got any ideas for a payback?" Virgil asked.

"I've got something in mind." Scott said a bit more cheerfully.

Scott waited until his father and Gordon came back from the Round House where they had been doing a routine roof inspection, checking the panels that protected the building whenever Thunderbird Three was launched from below. For reasons known only to himself it was a job that Jeff liked to carry out from time to time with the help of one of his sons and Gordon had been eager to assist this time.

Kyrano brought some coffee for them all and Scott noticed that Gordon was unusually silent for a change. He waited until they were all served and then he said to his father, "Dad, I think it's been a while since Gordon flew Thunderbird One. He suggested it yesterday after the rescue but he was tired and it wasn't a suitable time for him to fly her then. Seeing as it's quiet now I'd like to take him out on a test run."

"Seems a good idea to me, son. You're right he's not flown her for a while, and it's best to go around the area while it's quiet," Jeff said. "I'll give you air clearance when you're ready to launch."

Gordon looked surprised at this sudden change of plans. "I thought you were going to watch your new movie," he said to Scott. "Do we have to do it now?"

"I'll watch it later," Scott said with a smile. "Yeah, come on, let's go."

A few minutes later Gordon found himself in the passenger seat beside Scott in Thunderbird One. "I was only kidding yesterday, Scott. You know I hate flying unless I have to. Give me Thunderbird Four any day. Sailing's a much slower pace, you know, gives you time to see things," he told his brother.

"No, you reminded me yesterday that you need to be kept familiar with all the rescue vehicles," Scott told him. "You needn't do much today, just get the feeling of flying her again."

After getting clearance from his father, Scott launched the sleek rocket plane from beneath the swimming pool and they soared high into the air. He engaged the horizontal flight control and the seats swung down in motion with Thunderbird One.

"You know, the strangest thing happened to me earlier," Scott told his red-haired brother who looked as if he was clearly not enjoying the ride. Unlike Alan, he was not keen on speed (unless it was water based) or heights. He didn't mind Thunderbird Two and he had to admit to himself, Virgil was a good steady pilot of her. This particular Thunderbird was his least favourite to pilot or even be a passenger in and Scott knew it.

Scott continued talking, "I went to put my film on and guess what? Another film came on in its place. Not a bad choice of film considering, just not the one I ordered. Made me think of us, well not you much, 'cause you don't do a lot of flying but the others do. Then I got those words of the theme song stuck in my head."

Scott turned Thunderbird One around at a fast sharp angle making Gordon go pale a bit and then he continued. "Where was I now? Oh yes the words of the theme song, 'Up, down, flying around." With each word Scott changed Thunderbird One's direction and height at high speed. "Looping the loop and defying the ground." With that Scott rolled Thunderbird One over three times. Gordon was white as a sheet and looked as if he would throw up any minute, his hands gripping the sides of the seat tightly. "So are you ready to tell me now where you put my film?" Scott asked him.

"You mean you brought me out here just for that?" Gordon managed to answer after a few seconds. At the same time he thinking to himself 'How did I wind up in a job where big brother is Field Commander and father, Supreme Commander and why did I not keep my mouth shut yesterday and remind them both that it had been a while since I'd flown Thunderbird One.'

"No, not just for that," Scott replied. "I had a bit of trouble with the instrument panel showing a minor defect on the air-recycling duct when I was doing the checks earlier and fixed it. I wanted to check it out, now it's working just fine." Scott suddenly dropped the height of the craft again. "So where's my film Gordy?"

Fearing Scott would roll Thunderbird One again Gordon told him. "Okay I'll give it to ya', just take us back and lemme outa here."

"Why, don't you like my flying skills?" Scott asked him. "Okay then, you take her back, after all that's what Dad'll be expecting when you call to ask for clearance to get back in."

Scott put Thunderbird One on hover mode and vacated the pilot's seat. "Come on, let's go home."

Gordon took a deep breath to recover his senses then climbed into the empty seat and strapped himself in while Scott did the same in the passenger seat. He set the co-ordinates that would take them back to base and disengaged the hover mode. The machine moved swiftly forward. Gordon was determined to do this well and get them home without any problems by remembering all of his training. He knew he would never be as good a pilot as Scott, but he knew Scott would never make a good aquanaut either.

When they returned he handed Scott the copy of his film as promised. "Thanks, Gordon, I'll enjoy watching it even more now," he told him with a smile. "I might even enjoy the other one, too."

Alone in his room again, Scott settled down to enjoy his film once more. This time it was the right one. He brought a fresh glass of lemonade over but when he opened his food container to get out a chocolate muffin he found the box empty. Then he suddenly thought, 'Virgil! I haven't seen him since I got back. He knew I'd have something in here to eat while I watched the film.' He looked again at the empty food container and sighed.

John took his seat on the monorail along with other early morning travellers to Manchester. He'd bid farewell to his grandmother and Lady Penelope earlier after Parker had driven them all up to London and dropped John off at the station. Not long after the train had begun its journey, he'd been served with a cup of coffee which he was now enjoying as he read a newspaper account of the rescue in Toronto carried out by International Rescue.

A fellow passenger was also reading the same story and said to John with his index finger on the newspaper headline, "They won't be able to keep their identity secret for ever you know, somebody will find out who they are and where they come from."

John looked up in surprise at the man sitting opposite him. "They seem to have managed so far, what makes you say that?" he asked him.

"It's inevitable. Things like that always leak out in the end no matter how much they try to keep it secret. Somebody ruthless enough will track them down. You sound American, you don't know anything about them do you?"

John laughed, "Why should I know anything about them just because I'm an American? There are a lot of us over there you know."

"Yes, I suppose so," the man said dejectedly. "I just hate mysteries, that's all."

"I've heard it said," John said as he decided to humour the man and began speaking in a low voice, "that their base is situated in a jungle hideout in South America. Let's face it, a lot of that jungle has never been explored, and it's an ideal place to hide those machines."

"True, true I suppose some multi rich recluse could hide himself away there and have a little army working for him, a quick ride in a jet and they could be back in the States in no time when they've finished their stint. He probably made them sign some secrecy clause in their contract threatening to sue them for millions if they reveal their identity."

"Yeah, it's bound to be something like that, I mean they must get highly paid for what they do so they are not going to throw that sort of money away are they?" John continued. "My guess is that he's an oil magnate, I mean those machines must use a lot of oil to run them and he can get his hands on plenty of the stuff."

"Sounds right to me," the man answered.

John quickly moved the conversation on to other topics in the newspaper and the journey progressed swiftly to Manchester. There he bid his fellow traveller goodbye as he left the train to get the connecting train that would take him to Jodrell Bank.

Steve had asked him if he would mind giving a talk about his astronomical studies and experiences to some of the students tomorrow and John was only too pleased to agree to do this. As much as he loved doing the job he was doing now for International Rescue, he suddenly felt as if it were like old times and he was free to be himself again, no brothers arguing and teasing each other, no rescues and no space duty in Thunderbird Five. Here he was just John Tracy, ex-astronaut, author of four books on astronomy and ex-athlete. He smiled as he remembered the days at Harvard when he used to go running on the track with Steve and some of the parties they'd been to.

The pleasant little village of Goostry soon came into view and John knew he would be staying there this evening as a guest of Steve and his wife and family. Before long the train drew to a halt at the station and John took his overnight bag and emerged from the train in the late morning sunshine and hailed a cab to take him on the final leg of his journey.

Back in London, Ruth and Lady Penelope were having morning coffee in a restaurant in Oxford Street. Parker had driven them both around parts of the city so Ruth could see several of the most famous tourist attractions. Now he was busy taking their overnight bags to the hotel while they were having a little break before going to see some of the shops.

"So what do you think of London?" Lady Penelope asked Ruth.

"There's certainly a lot to see, and I can't believe I've actually seen Buckingham Palace it's so big. I think I really would get lost in there," Ruth replied. "Then the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben, too, and you say I haven't seen half of the sights yet."

Lady Penelope smiled. "I'm pleased you're enjoying your visit. Now we can have a look at the shops and see some more things tomorrow. After dinner tonight we are going to see a nice show in Leicester Square. I asked Parker to book us a box to see that new musical 'The Flower Lady,' I've heard it's very good so we don't want to get too tired. I would like to visit one of my regular antique shops though, there are one or two little items I have had my eyes on for a while and the proprietor has telephoned me to say he has one of them for sale. So we will have a look at a few other shops and then have lunch at one of my favourite restaurants before going on there."

"I'd like to buy a few little souvenirs of my trip and some little gifts for the family," Ruth said. "I'm looking forward to going to see a show, too, I haven't seen one since I went to New York and saw Ned Cook's show that time. Thank you so much."

"It's my pleasure," she replied. "I want to see you enjoy yourself and you may like to come back another time. Now if you have finished your coffee, I'll call the waiter and get the bill and then we can do some shopping. I've given Parker the rest of the day off so we need to get a cab back to the hotel."

She summoned the waiter over and after the bill was paid they stepped out into the busy street.

"I don't think I need to worry about looking at too many clothes stores," Ruth said. "Where I live I don't need many clothes for evenings out much. When you get to my age comfortable clothes are a lot better than fashionable ones. I like nice cool cotton dresses or tops."

"I'm sure we will be able to find plenty of those for you," Lady Penelope reassured her, "These stores sell clothes to suit all tastes."

John looked with fascination as the giant shape of the Lovell Telescope came into view, indicating that he had ended his journey and he had at last reached Jodrell Bank.

He paid the driver and stepped into the reception of the visitors centre and approached a young woman at the desk.

"Hello, I've an appointment with Mr. Steve Sanders," he told her. "My name's John Tracy."

She checked through a few names on the computer in front of her and found his name listed. She smiled pleasantly and said, "I'll tell him you're here and get a porter to show you the way to his study."

Steve Sanders put his telephone back down after receiving the message from the receptionist. He did not wait for the porter to bring John along to his study. He went to meet him en route instead.

The two friends saw each other and shook hands enthusiastically. "John Tracy, it's great to see you again, pal. You got here okay then, no problems?"

"Hi, Steve," John replied, "It's good to see you, too, and yeah I got here okay with your instructions."

"Come into my study here and we'll have some coffee and catch up on things. You can leave your bag here until I take you home tonight. I'll show you around the place then we can have some lunch."

"Thanks, I'd love to do that," John replied as he was shown in to a room with various files and paperwork strewn about a desk along with what looked like photographs of various astral objects.

There were two comfortable chairs over in the corner with a pleasant view of the park from the window and it was here John was invited to sit down while Steve organized some coffee for both of them.

"So what exactly are you doing now, John?" Steve asked, "I was surprised you gave up working for NASA, to work for your father's business. I thought you would have stayed there longer."

John hesitated a bit then answered, "It's not so bad, I work on the communication side of the industry. You know I love anything to do with radios, my brothers and I get to travel around a lot. There's always plenty to do and when I'm not working I can still get my telescope out, so I'm still pretty close to the stars."

John thought to himself, 'Security, darned security. I'd love to tell him the truth. He'd love to know I have my very own satellite. He'd love to see it as well, but I guess it always has to be like this now.'

After the coffee was served John steered the subject into talking about old times while they drank it.

Later, Steve said, "Come on I'll show you around now. I guess you're just aching to see the telescope. By the time you've finished seeing that it will be time for lunch."

"You bet I am, I've longed to see the largest radio telescope in the world. You should see this old astronomy book I've been reading at the home of my friend in London," John laughed, "The theories they believed then, 'canals on Mars, nine moons for Saturn', Pluto wasn't even discovered when it was written. I'd love to know what they would have made of pulsars and quasars."

Steve smiled, "I know what you mean. It's like looking at ancient maps of the world, terra incognito, here be dragons, sea monsters and all that stuff."

On the way to see the telescope Steve showed him one of the lecture theatres that he would probably be using the next day to give a talk to the students. "Word has already leaked out that you're coming here and my guess is that you're going to be one popular speaker," Steve told him.

John raised an eyebrow. "Really? In that case I ought to get something prepared this evening. What do you think they would want me to talk about?"

"Oh don't worry about it too much, it's supposed to be informal," Steve told him. "Your life as an astronaut with NASA and of course your discovery of the Tracy quasar system should be enough. Then just answer some questions they may fire at you. It will only last for about an hour."

He led John from the lecture theatre to the building housing the telescope, eager to show his guest all that the great machine had to offer.

Ruth had enjoyed looking in some of the great London stores. She'd bought herself a nice outfit for the show later and Lady Penelope had bought a few small items for herself. After they had lunch, they then moved on to the antiques shop which was close by the exclusive restaurant.

"Ah, Lady Penelope, so nice to see you again," the owner of the store said as one of his most regular customers walked through the door with Ruth.

"Thank you, Julian," she replied. "I have a friend here who is staying with me, and she may like to purchase something, too. Now then I believe you have a Royal Worcester figurine that I have been interested in for a while."

"Yes, Madam, it has recently come in from one of the estates that is being sold off,

I managed to obtain it for you. I have it here ready for you to view," he told her.

While Lady Penelope was busy with looking at her potential purchase, Ruth browsed around the shop. She knew Jeff liked to keep a few antique items in the lounge behind his desk and thought she might get him something for a souvenir. Suddenly she saw the very thing that she wanted to buy for him.

Lady Penelope was satisfied with the figurine, "Yes, she is perfect for my collection," she told the shopkeeper. "Now can you have her delivered to my home as usual?"

"No problem with that, Madam, I'll arrange that now," he replied as he carefully put the expensive antique back into the box.

"I'd love to buy this for Jeff," Ruth said. "It'll match that other thing he has on top of the television behind his desk."

Lady Penelope looked at the small white marble sculpture and totally agreed. "Yes, he's got the 'Discus Thrower,' so I'm sure he'd love to have 'The Thinker' as well."

"An excellent choice, if I say so myself," the shopkeeper said. "It was made not long after the original bronze work was produced in 1882, a fine copy made by a little know English sculptor named Edmund Brown."

"I don't know about all that, it just reminds me of Jeff and how he's always thinking up something or other," Ruth replied.

"Can you arrange for it to be delivered to my home, too?" Lady Penelope asked Julian as she prepared to leave the shop.

"I will, Madam, goodbye to both of you," he told them as they left.

After an interesting afternoon looking around the buildings at Jodrell Bank, Steve took him for a walk around the park and arboretum. He pointed out to John the rare trees that had been planted for earth's sciences and the nature reserve.

Then later they went to Steve's home where he was introduced to Steve's wife, Helen and their two little boys aged four and two. The elder boy, Darren was fascinated with this visitor who sounded like his father when he spoke. Helen went to serve up the special dinner she had prepared for their guest. After John had been shown to his room and freshened up after his journey, Steve took John into the lounge to wait while he went to lend his wife a hand with the dinner. His two little sons had followed behind him.

"Now you stay here with Uncle John while I help Mummy in the kitchen," Steve told them. "He's been all he way up to the stars in a rocket ship and if you're good he'll tell you all about it."

This bit of news made Darren's eyes grow wide with wonder. His younger brother Paul was not impressed, however, and decided to play with his toy animals on the floor.

"I've been a good boy, Uncle John, Paul was naughty, not me," the small boy told him. "He threw his ball and knocked his juice over. How do you go in a rocket ship

all the way to the stars?"

John told him in simplified terms all about flying in a rocket and going to the stars watching with fascination as the child stood in awe.

"Have you been to the moon?" Darren asked him.

"No, but my Dad has," John told him and smiled at the boys expression of surprise.

"Your Dad has!" he answered. He then added a little dejectedly, "My Dad hasn't."

John looked down at Paul who was still playing with some toy animals on the floor. "You know we have lots of animals up amongst the stars, too. There's ordinary ones like dogs, a bull, a sheep and a goat. Then there are bigger ones like bears, and a lion and even a special horse that had wings once and could fly."

Darren was now wide eyed with interest and John proceeded to tell him in simplified words, the story of Perseus rescuing Princess Andromeda by flying to her aid on the winged horse Pegasus. By the time the tale was through, Helen came in to tell John

that dinner was about to be served.

"So you see, Darren, all those animals and people were put up in the sky by magic. We can still see them and tell everybody about them," John told him as he finished.

"I want to see the horse with wings on," Darren responded enthusiastically.

"It's dinner time now and I want you to come and ready for it now," his mother told him as she took him and Paul by the hand. Turning to John she added, "Thanks for keeping them entertained. I'm afraid Darren will want to hear a lot more of your stories before you leave."

John spent a pleasant evening with the family. Darren had wanted another star story from John before he went to bed. John was happy to oblige and afterwards he enjoyed talking to Steve and Helen for the remainder of the evening. Before going to bed, he had managed to jot down a few notes for the talk he would be giving tomorrow. He was looking forward to this and it took him back to the lectures he used to give before his life had changed for ever when International Rescue had been formed.

In London, Ruth was also about to go to sleep in the luxurious surroundings of the hotel where she and Lady Penelope were staying. She had thoroughly enjoyed herself today by seeing the sights of London. The shopping and the show were more than she ever hoped to see as a girl in Kansas. She put her hand on the silver locket she wore that contained her husband Grant's photograph and quietly whispered to him about all she had seen and done before eventually falling asleep.

Parker had enjoyed his night off, too. He had driven the Rolls-Royce back down to the mansion and spent a jovial evening in The Rose and Crown in Foxleyheath Village.

Something he'd heard though from his drinking companions was disturbing enough to sober him up, not that he'd drunk much to render himself intoxicated. He left the premises early to walk the short distance back to the home of his employer. He thought about the news he had heard and knew he was going to have to be extra alert over the next few days. Before going to bed, he read the local evening newspaper and there indeed was the article his friends had told him about. He then went into the library and found the traps set for the mice had not been sprung while he was out for the day. Then he carefully checked that all the windows and doors of the house were secure, he put on the alarm systems and retired to bed.

12


	3. Chapter 3

Day 3 – Part One

Alexander Pennington took a bite out of his toast and looked down on the copy of the old hand drawn map of the area that he'd obtained from the Crawley Local History Society. He smiled to himself, thinking his plans were working well, it seemed. He'd fitted well into the local community since moving into the village of Staplefield a few months ago. Now he was enjoying all the trappings of a successful businessman, fine clothes, an expensive car and a nice old rented stone-built house situated just where he needed it to be, near the ruins of Staplefield Castle. It was also conveniently close to the main A23 road with London Airport to the north and the coast to the south, where he had a small boat moored at Hove. These were both easy escape routes should someone discover that Alexander Pennington was not all that he appeared to be. His 'Pennington's Domestic Cleaning Agency' based in nearby Crawley was useful in covering his real activities that funded his lifestyle. It also had the added advantage of him being able to employ 'certain' people for his own advantage, one of them being his fiancée, Jane.

Yes, the money he'd spent on a recent 'business' trip to the United States had certainly paid off. Visiting Joe Selsdon in his present 'home' courtesy of the judicial system and offering him a large sum of money for information on how he came to be there had been easy. Selsdon had jumped at the chance because he was going to be released within the next few years and the money would be useful to him. In exchange he gave his potential benefactor as much information as he could. Selsdon had spent some time, much to his annoyance, elaborating on his last trip to England which resulted in him going to Foxleyheath Manor and ending up literally going round and round in circles all night long with his accomplice Harry Malloy.

All Pennington had to do after that was contact some of Selsdon's associates who were not behind bars and get them to do his manual work for a stake in the profits. They had done their work well. The trial run had been a success and tonight the real operation would begin. He had done his homework by talking to the right people, making certain investigations and taking his time. Now it all had to pay off.

He took another bite of toast and sipped his early morning cup of tea and thought how next day, if all went well, he would be in the United States again and, hopefully, just a little bit richer.

…………………………………………………………………………………………

Lady Penelope and Ruth were having breakfast together in their hotel suite. Outside the rain was coming down in grey sheets casting an early morning gloom over the city. "Oh dear, such frightful weather. Not very nice for sight-seeing today," her ladyship remarked to Ruth as she glanced at the window.

"To tell you the truth I'd much rather go back to your home," Ruth told her. "I enjoyed yesterday and now that I've finally made it here I can come back another time. I feel a little tired today."

They were interrupted in their conversation by a message from Parker via her make-up case. "Beg pardon, M'Lady, but H'i was wondring what time you want me to come for you with the car seeing 'ow h'its raining cats h'and dogs this morning?"

"Oh, Parker, what a coincidence! We were just discussing this. Just come for us now please and we will go straight home," she replied.

"Very good, M'Lady," Parker answered, then added, "H'i think we may 'ave a little bit h'of trouble coming, so h'it might be best h'if you was 'ere h'anyway."

Lady Penelope raised an eyebrow and asked her employee, "Really, Parker, what sort of trouble?"

"H'I 'eard in the pub last night that Bill Coates h'is h'out. 'E used to work for that same mob that h'our old friends, Harry Malloy h'and Joe Selsdon worked for," he told her. "Not h'only that, there's been some break-h'ins the h'area. The crooks seem to go for h'antiques h'and paintings. H'I thought h'I should warn you."

"Oh dear, how tiresome when I have friends visiting. Very good, Parker, I trust you have ensured that the alarms are working satisfactorily. I'll see you later. Goodbye."

"They seem to be working h'alright, but h'I'll check 'em again 'fore h'I leave 'ere. H'I'll be h'as quick h'as H'I can, Madam," Parker told her as they finished the conversation.

………………………………………………………………………………………

John was also sitting down to breakfast with his host and hostess. He had gone over his notes again earlier and felt a little more prepared, but still slightly nervous about the forthcoming talk to the students. Steve was busy feeding egg soldiers to his youngest son, Paul. His elder brother, Darren, was still fascinated with his new 'uncle' and stayed close by John. Asking him all sorts of questions about where he lived now and how did he get here from there. Helen rescued John by bringing him his breakfast and made Darren sit down to eat his, too.

"Pity you have to go back this afternoon, John," Helen told him as she placed a plate of bacon and eggs down in front of for him. "You must come back sometime and stay a little longer, Darren would love that, too, wouldn't you?"

"Yes, Uncle John," the small boy answered. "Come back after you go back up in the stars again."

"Uncle John doesn't go up into the stars anymore," his father told him. "He just flies in an airplane like you do when we go on holiday."

John looked at the disappointed face of the child and wished once again that he could tell him and his father the truth. "I'd love to come back here sometime," he replied. Then he cheered the little boy up by adding, "When I do I'll collect some star dust and bring it back with me."

When breakfast was over, Steve went to his study to collect some papers he needed to take with him to work. John offered to help with the dishes but Helen said it would be a bigger help if he kept her sons out of mischief while she did them. This arrangement suited Darren very well as it was a chance to ask a few more questions about space to John. "Looks like you made a fan for life there," Helen said with amusement, "You're definitely going to have to come back now."

"Yes, you certainly will, star boy," Steve agreed. "Come on you've got another captive audience waiting to hear you."

John thanked Helen for her hospitality and said he hoped to be back sometime. Then he picked the boys up one at a time and gave them a hug. He said to Darren, "You keep looking at those stars and tell me what you've seen next time I come back here."

"I want to see the horse with wings on," he replied and went with his mother and baby brother to the door to wave them off as they left in Steve's car.

"You know, you might be responsible for turning my son into a future astronaut," Steve said as he drove them both back to his place of work. "In fact both of them might be."

John laughed, "Or they may just take after you and talk about stars instead of getting up amongst them." His expression became serious and continued. "Whatever they do though, Steve, let them follow their own dream and not someone else's."

"Strange thing to say, John, what do you mean?" Steve asked.

"It happens sometimes that way, men and women become influenced by other people and their ideas and then end up changing their careers to suit them." John replied and changed the subject. "Are you going to be lecturing as soon as we get there? If so, where will I go?"

"I've got one or two people to see first and so I thought you might be happy looking at some of the photographs from the telescope to pass the time. I'll show you where the photo lab is. It was being used yesterday, but I'm sure it's free this morning."

"That sounds okay by me," John said, "I'll look forward to that, though one thing I have to insist on, Steve, is no photographs of me. It's on account of who I am and my father often has worries about us being kidnapped and held hostage. There are a lot of ruthless people about in this world, who want to get rich quick and easy without doing any work."

"Okay, John, I'll make a note to tell the students." Steve reassured him. .……………………………………………………………………………………..

Parker drove the Rolls up to London as fast as he dared in the torrential rain. He was a little apprehensive about leaving the house empty apart from Lily the cook. To be on the safe side he'd told her only to answer the door to regular callers once they had established their identity through the intercom.

Fortunately there was not much traffic about so the journey was quick and after parking outside the entrance and taking two umbrellas from the rear of the car, he made his way up to the suite where Lady Penelope and Ruth were staying. He found them just finishing morning coffee when he knocked and entered the room.

"Ah, Parker, I'm pleased you got here so quickly. Our bags are ready to take down," his employer told him. "I'm glad you brought the umbrellas up with you. Such frightful weather and it shows no signs of improving."

"I've heard it rains a lot in England," Ruth answered. "At least I've seen that first hand."

"Best h'if we do get back, Madam," Parker said as he collected the overnight bags. "H'in view h'of what I told you about h'earlier. I think somebody 'as been doin a little poking around and come across one h'of your little secrets so's to speak, h'if my suspicions h'ar right."

"You can tell me all about it on the way home, Parker, let's get back as quickly as possible. We don't want to miss out on any of the action do we?" she replied and said to Ruth, "We might be in for a few surprises. Such a nuisance when I wanted to have a few days off from that sort of thing."

"Oh dear, it's not going to be dangerous is it?" Ruth asked. "I have enough excitement at home without having it here as well."

They stepped out of the hotel suite and Parker closed the door behind them and followed them down to the waiting car. They got in quickly to avoid getting too wet and were soon on their way back to Foxleyheath.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

John was spending an enjoyable morning looking at photographs of far distant galaxies in the collection housed in the photograph laboratory. He was so engrossed he did not see or hear a young woman enter with a cup of coffee for him.

"You must be Mr. John Tracy. I've been asked to bring you this and tell you that Mr. Sanders will meet you in the Lecture Theatre at 10.45, ready for your lecture at 11," she informed him.

"Thanks, you must work in Steve's department I assume," he answered whilst getting up and taking his coffee away to drink away from where the photographs were stored.

"Me?" she laughed, "No, he knew I was on my way here so he just asked to me to pass the message on. I work in here as photo-technician. Did you enjoy looking at them?" she nodded her head in the direction of the photographs.

"Yes, quite good images, I like the very early ones. Technology certainly moved on a pace after they were taken and we've learned so much since."

They spent the time musing over aspects of space exploration while John drank his coffee and then it was time to leave to meet Steve. "What shall I do with my cup?" he asked her.

"Just leave it here and I'll take it back when I go for lunch," she answered, "Nice to meet you, Mr. Tracy, I hope you have a good discussion. I've heard the students are quite looking forward to it."

"Thanks, I never caught your name by the way," he said as prepared to leave.

"Heather Thompson," she told him.

"Bye, Ms Thompson, and thanks for the coffee and the photographs. I'd better go now Steve will be waiting," he replied as he went to the door and left for the lecture theatre.

The discussion with the students proved to be a resounding success. He managed to answer the questions put to him about pulsars and quasars, black holes and galaxies. Then the subject changed to life at NASA and working on their space satellite. After the lecture he was given a standing ovation and signed a few copies of his books that some students had bought.

Afterwards they broke up for lunch; Steve shook hands with John. "That was terrific, pal, I knew it would be. I'm going to have to invite you back here after this. Come on let's go for lunch in Goostry. I know a great pub beside the station so it will leave plenty of time for you to catch your train."

Having done that, afterwards John collected his overnight bag from Steve's car and went to board the monorail for the return journey to London.

"You will come back again, John, won't you?" Steve asked him, "Not only have you been a big hit here, but my family enjoyed your company, too. I certainly have, it's been far too long."

"I've enjoyed it, too, Steve, it's made a change from Tracy Aerospace. I'll contact you when I get back and we can make arrangements," John told him.

The two friends shook hands and John boarded the train. Steve waved him off as it began to move out of the station. John sat back in his seat and reflected on his visit and how much he had enjoyed himself and thought 'Yes I would certainly like to come back. Not only for Steve and his students and family. I've got another reason, a certain photo-technician that I would like to get to know a little better.' He noticed it was beginning to rain now and he wondered how his grandmother had enjoyed herself in London with Lady Penelope. He looked forward to seeing them both again for the remainder of their short stay.

…………………………………………………………………………………………

Parker drew the Rolls up as near as possible to the entrance porch at Lady Penelope's home. The rain had not abated much and the two women alighted and went into the house as quickly as they could once Parker unlocked the door.

"Thank you, Parker. You can tell Lily we'll both be ready for lunch soon but you may serve us some tea in the library first, please," Lady Penelope told him.

"Very well, M'Lady. H'I'll just put the car h'away first," he told her and went back outside again.

After putting FAB 1 in the nearby garage, he put his umbrella up and walked the short distance to the door that led into what used to be the servants quarters. There he placed his umbrella to drain and went into the kitchen. Lily was finishing off preparing the lunch. "'Allo, Lil, any callers been?" he asked.

"Just a bloke in a van from an arntiques shop, left a couple of parcels an 'is bill. He put 'em in you room," she told him. "I don't know why you're so worried, 'taint as if I've never been left 'ere on me own afore, with you an 'er going off all over the place."

"Yes well, h'I've got good reason to now," he told her whilst getting the tea things ready. "Bill Coates h'is one of the best h'in the business for burglaries, h'alarms are 'is speciality, 'e can master 'em just h'as good h'as Light Fingered Fred can manage a safe. What's more h'I 'eard last night 'es h'out again and there 'as been some burglaries h'already. The police h'ar on to 'im but 'e's 'iding h'out somewhere."

"Oh I nearly forgot there was another bloke called, said 'e was the boss from that cleaning agency. 'E wanted to 'ave a word with you or 'er. Seemed disappointed when I told 'im to come back later," she remembered to tell him. "Take their tea through an I'll pour us both a cup, for when you come back."

"H'Oh well 'e can come back later h'if h'it's money 'e's h'arfter for the work done, 'e's new to the h'area h'and doesn't know 'er Ladyship settles h'all that through 'er bank," Parker replied as he pushed the tea trolley out through the kitchen doorway.

As he served the tea to Lady Penelope and Ruth he informed them, "Your parcels from the h'antiques shop in London 'ave h'arrived h'along with 'is h'invoice. Shall I fetch 'em h'in 'ere for you now or do you want 'em later?"

"Oh, very good, Parker, you may bring them when you come to collect the tea things please and we will take them upstairs when we get ready for lunch," she replied.

"Very well, M'Lady," Parker bowed slightly and proceeded to leave the room.

"That was a nice and quick service," Ruth said, "We could have brought them back with us and saved him the trip. I must leave the money with you for Jeff's gift."

"Julian likes to make sure everything he sells is carefully packaged and delivered safely to his customers," Lady Penelope informed her. "That's why I like dealing with him."

The rain was still pouring down outside, and after lunch Ruth and Lady Penelope occupied themselves in the library again by reading some magazines. While things were relatively quiet and she was able to relax from her busy line of work for a few days, plus the weather being so poor, she took the opportunity to catch up with some of them.

She glanced up to notice her elderly guest had dozed off to sleep. The magazine she had been reading had fallen from her grasp on to her lap and her spectacles had slipped to the end of her nose as her head nodded downwards.

"Oh dear, it looks like all this traveling about has been a bit much for you," she whispered, "Never mind, Jeff wanted you to have a rest so I'll see you get one and not disturb you until afternoon tea is served."

There was a slight tap on the door and Parker entered the room. On seeing Lady Penelope's finger go to her lips and her pointing to the sleeping figure opposite her, he whispered, "Beg pardon, M'Lady, there's a Mr. H'Alexander Pennington to see you from the Cleaners h'agency. Says 'e wants a word with you h'about 'is new cleaners contract. I tried to tell 'im that h'I deal with that sort h'of thing but 'e h'insists h'on speakin to you. H'Ive put 'im h'in the Reception Room."

"Oh very well, Parker, I'll come and deal with him now," she told him and they left the room leaving Ruth still fast asleep on the sofa.

"Lil said 'e called h'earlier while we were h'out," Parker informed her. "She said 'e was disappointed that 'e couldn't see you then."

Alexander Pennington was getting a little anxious while sitting waiting for Lady Penelope to come into the room. He kept glancing at his watch and hoped everything he'd planned over the last few months was going to come to fruition. True, the removal of certain objects from homes in the area had proved to be relatively easy with only basic alarm systems to overcome. Bill had managed that quite simply, but this was the big one. Pull this one off and he and his team would be in France before midnight and then on to the States. Once he'd sold off the goods they'd acquired he and Jane could lie low until the heat died off. It had been so easy getting Jane to case the joints for the best items and to check what sort alarms systems were installed, while doing a spot of dusting in the rooms. Now once the owner of this house was occupied with his little distraction, the rest should be easy. Only her and two other staff to worry about, yes it should be a pushover, quite simple really. Thanks going to two greedy medieval landowners and a few corrupt monks who liked to earn a quick buck in the smuggling business in the past. Now he was going to make a few quick bucks for himself.

The door opened and Lady Penelope walked in. Pennington immediately stood up and bowed graciously, "Good afternoon, you must be Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward, I'm sorry for the intrusion, my name is Alexander Pennington from Pennington's Domestic Cleaning Agency and I would like to thank you for signing up with my firm and ask how you like the services my cleaners have provided?"

"Good afternoon, Mr. Pennington, please sit down," Lady Penelope replied. "I'm sure the weather is quite frightful today and I'm sorry you have had to drive out all this way just to talk about this. My Butler deals with this kind of thing as I believe he mentioned to you. Now how may I help you?"

While Pennington was keeping Lady Penelope occupied in the Reception Room, deep below the house four figures were riding on electric tricycles in a tunnel that had been made hundreds of years ago to link Foxleyheath Castle to Staplefield Castle and beyond that to Slaugham Priory. The tunnel ended under what used to be the central Keep of the castle and on which the present library of Foxleyheath Manor was now built. The tricycles were fast and silent. They also had large baskets at the front and were designed for people with mobility problems. Alexander Pennington had found another good use for them and had considered the money spent on buying them to be a good investment.

Bill Coates and Jane Harrison led the way, their bright lights shining through the well constructed brick lined tunnel. Two other men followed. They reached a set of ancient stone steps and left the tricycles parked at the bottom, climbing the steps to reach their final destination. To gain entrance was simple, the first owner of the house had been a Jacobite sympathizer and he kept the tunnel system intact in case he needed to make a good escape from potential enemies. For this, a secret doorway had been made behind one of the bookcases. This had all been carefully checked out two days ago by the thieves and found to be working perfectly. A little oil on the lever and hinges had helped the old metal that had not succumbed to too much dampness and rust due to the warmth of the present building.

A quick pull of a lever and they were in the room, Bill Coates looked at the paintings and whispered, "Too risky, the alarms are linked up to the local police, best get the smaller antiques and the clocks, they're worth a fortune."

They suddenly saw Ruth on the sofa; unfortunately she just happened to wake up at the wrong time. One of the men put his hands across her mouth to silence her.

"Get rid of 'er, take er downstairs quick," Bill Coates informed his accomplice, "She's seen us!" Turning to the others he said, "Just grab what you can and let's get out of 'ere."

Ruth was swooped up into the strongly built man's arms and despite a few struggles her frail body was no match for him. He quickly carried her back down to the tunnels where he waited for the others to join him. "Just keep still and be quiet and you won't get hurt," he told her. Knowing it was useless to struggle anyway; she did just that and tried to remain calm.

She knew somehow that the best way to help Lady Penelope find these people who were robbing her home was to cooperate with them. She was pleased that she took Jeff's advice and kept her edible transmitter with her at all times. Right now it was in her cardigan pocket if she could just get her hands free from this brute that was holding her hands together with one hand, while the other was still across her mouth.

Soon they were joined by the others with their illicit booty, "Come on let's move," Jane half yelled after closing the secret panel.

"What about Granny here?" the man who was holding her asked.

"Just take 'er with us and we'll dump her somewhere. Don't hurt her though, I don't want no killins on me conscience," Bill answered. "Let Alex decide when we get to the coast."

With that they all sped off on the tricycles with Ruth sitting ungraciously on her captor's knee. He was strong enough to hold her tightly with one arm while steering the tricycle with the other. She felt indignant at sitting on this strange person's knee and was also very fearful for her safety. What was more, she realized that her spectacles had fallen off in the struggle and she just hoped the gang were true to their word and did not hurt her. She remained silent but managed to reach into the top pocket of her cardigan and get the small device shaped like a lozenge and put it in her mouth. There was no time to remove the paper wrapping so she had to break the seal as best as she could with her teeth, then hope her youngest grandson way up in Thunderbird Five would quickly notice the signal had been activated.

The journey came to an abrupt end. The thieves grabbed the baskets from the tricycles and emerged from the tunnel, beside the ruins of an old castle. Ruth was bundled into the rear seat of a car, the man that had been holding her sat down beside her while the other three thieves carefully placed the stolen items in the boot. Then they climbed in, one of the other men started the engine and the car sped away from the scene.

Lady Penelope was getting a little bored with her unwelcome caller telling her all about his business empire and what other services he had to offer so she decided to call the interview to an end, "Well thank you for your call, Mr. Pennington," she told him, "I am sure we will let you know if we need the other services you provide, my carpets have all been recently cleaned by my own regular firm and so have my curtains and upholstery. Some of the fabrics are very delicate and require specialist cleaning."

She stood up to let him know the interview was at an end and rang for Parker to show him out, "Good afternoon, Mr. Pennington."

Pennington put on a false smile that hid his annoyance. He wanted to keep her talking a lot longer but knew he would have to get far away in case the others were discovered. Admitting defeat, he bowed graciously and said, "Thank you for your time, Madam, and if ever you need any more of our services do not hesitate to call."

Parker arrived and showed Pennington out of the mansion. The unwelcome visitor quickly got into his car and drove out of the estate. If this plan did go wrong at least he had the other stolen items from the previous robberies. They had been carefully stored under the ruins of Slaugham Priory and then taken down to his boat at Hove. This was his destination now and from there across to France where an aircraft should be waiting to fly him and the gang to the States, that is, if the rest of the gang had managed to get away.

Pleased to be finished with what she considered a waste of her precious time, Lady Penelope made her way back into the library. She opened the door and was surprised at the sight, not only had her antique ornaments and clocks gone but so had Ruth. What was more alarming was that her guest's spectacles were lying on the floor in front of the sofa where they had fallen when she was picked up by the thief. Filled with shock and worry for her guest she quickly summoned Parker to the room.

"Looks like they 'ave struck already, M'lady," Parker stated. "H'I thought they might 'ave done h'it during the night. They probably thought the bad weather would keep h'everybody h'indoors and wouldn't notice 'em much."

"Switch on the tracking device, Parker, they won't get far away. My antiques will lead us to them." Lady Penelope told him as she went to pick up her missing guest's dropped spectacles.

"Shall h'I h'inform the police now h'or do we do this h'on h'our h'own?" Parker asked.

"Yes, call the police, Parker. I'm more concerned about Mrs Tracy. I hope she comes to no harm," Lady Penelope replied. Then she continued, "Oh dear, John will be due back here shortly and Jeff and the others are going to have to be informed. That man Pennington kept me distracted. It was all a plot, Parker, he's part of it I'm sure."

"Somehow they found h'out h'about the tunnel. That h'is the h'only way they could 'ave got h'into the house," Parker remarked as he went over to where the secret panel was.

"It's no use trying to follow them that way, Parker, they will be long gone now," Lady Penelope told him. "I think they must have been worried after seeing Mrs Tracy and took what they could from this room and escaped with her. Get the Rolls, Parker, and let the police know what's happened. We need them to stay here with Lily in case the thieves come back. It looks like we are not going to have a little rest and relaxation after all. I'll contact John and see where he is, then I'm going to have to let Jeff and the others know."

"Yes, M'Lady," Parker answered and left to go to his room to make the call before going to the garage.

Parker switched on the tracking device that was fitted discreetly to all of Lady Penelope's antiques and paintings. Luckily her paintings had not been touched by the thieves and the new delivery from the antiques dealer had been taken upstairs out of the way.

If only Pennington had taken more notice of Joe Selsdon when he told him that attempting a robbery at the home of Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward would end in a few surprises as it had done for him and Harry Malloy.

………………………………………………………………………………………..

12


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four of The Invitation

Day Three – Part Two

John sat looking out of the Monorail window at the dreary, grey landscape. It had not stopped raining since his journey began and it seemed heavier the further south he got. He was in the final stages of his journey and had just left London to travel the short distance back to Foxleyheath. He was thinking about what plans might have been made for tomorrow when the sound of his cell phone ringing jolted him back to the present. He was surprised to see it was Lady Penelope calling him.

"Hi, Penny, what's up?" he asked. "I'm almost back to your place."

"Good, John, whereabouts are you now? We'll come and meet you,"

John remembered the last station the train had passed through. "I've just left Salfords," he told her. "I was just going to get a cab to save Parker turning out in this weather."

"Just wait at Foxleyheath Station, John, by the time we get there you should have arrived. We've had a spot of trouble, I'll tell you about it when I see you." She didn't want to worry him just yet and immediately hung up the telephone and went to the car.

John thought it was strange she should end the call so abruptly but knew he would not get to know what the trouble was until she saw him. He shrugged his shoulders and replaced his cell-phone in his pocket, thinking it couldn't be that serious, otherwise his father or somebody else at home would contact him by his watch. So he settled down again for the rest of the journey. …………………………………………………………………………………….

It was early in the morning on Tracy Island and as Thunderbird Five's orbit was synchronized to the same time pattern, Alan Tracy was fast asleep in the small bedroom on the satellite. He was quickly awoken by the sound of an alarm going off and jumped out of bed hastening to the communications console. It wasn't the usual emergency call coming from the radio, however. It was the bleeping sound of an edible transmitter carried by one of the family or their associates at all times.

He quickly checked to make sure and watched the screen as the small green light flickered on and off at a steady pace. He noted the co-ordinates and put on the tracking system before contacting his father, who, he guessed, would still be asleep.

The sound of the alarm above his bed soon awoke Jeff. He put on his robe and went to the lounge to see what emergency Alan had to report. Sitting down at his desk, he opened the video link with Alan at the same time as pressing another button to alert the rest of his sons.

"Go ahead, Alan," Jeff said routinely as his youngest son's picture changed to a live action version displaying a very concerned face.

"Dad, I'm getting a signal from an edible transmitter. Have you heard from John or Grandma lately?" he asked.

"Last time I heard from them everything was fine," Jeff answered. "Whose transmitter is it?"

"Hold on, I'll check," Alan looked at the instrument panel that linked the signal to the bio system of the person that had swallowed it and exclaimed, "It's Grandma, Dad, she must be in trouble!"

"Now hold on, Alan, there may be a simple reason for this, she may have swallowed it by mistake," Jeff told him. "Keep a check on it, son, and I'll contact Penny and see what's going on and get back to you."

"FAB, Dad," Alan answered and broke off the communication.

Just as he was about to open the link to Lady Penelope, Jeff was joined by Scott and Virgil. "What's up, Dad?" Scott asked.

"Looks like Grandma has somehow swallowed her edible transmitter. I'm about to call Penny to see what's happened," Jeff told him.

Before he had the chance to do that, Lady Penelope contacted him from FAB 1. "Hi, Penny, I was just about to call you. What's going on? Is my mother okay?"

"Bad news, I'm afraid, Jeff. It appears I've been the victim of a burglary and the thieves have got away and taken your mother with them," she told him. "My antiques are fitted with a tracking device so I can trace them. I'm on my way now to collect John from the station and then we'll be on their trail. The police have been informed. Try not to worry, Jeff, I'm sure we'll find her."

Jeff was momentarily stunned at this news. "You bet we'll find her," he eventually said, "She's managed to swallow her edible transmitter. We'll track her from that, too. I've got the boys here ready to go. Stay in contact Penny, we'll be right over as soon as we can."

"I will, Jeff. I'm so pleased she has managed to do that, it will be a big help," she replied before closing the link.

"Right, boys, you heard what she said. We'd better get going. Where's Gordon?" he suddenly noticed the absence of his fourth son.

"Probably swimming," Scott replied as he walked over to the window that looked down on to the beach to see if there was any sign of his younger brother.

"You get going, Scott, and I'll contact him," Virgil said. "We can't afford to waste time and you can get on the trail quicker."

"He's right, son," Jeff told Scott, "Get going and contact Alan to give you the co-ordinates and let him know what's happened. Tell him to keep his eye on that signal for as long as it lasts."

Gordon wrapped his robe around him after his usual early morning swim across the bay of the island. He began his route back to the villa and planned to begin making breakfast for the family as usual. He hadn't got very far when a buzz from his watch alerted him and Virgil's face came into view on the screen.

"What's up Virg, another emergency already?" he asked him.

"Make your way to the hangar, Gordon, as quickly as possible. Grandma's in trouble," Virgil replied.

Gordon had the same reaction as his father when he heard this and was momentarily speechless then answered, "FAB Virgil, I'm on my way." He began running fast to the hangar and couldn't help noticing Thunderbird One soaring high up into the sky as he got closer to the villa.

When he reached Thunderbird Two, he found Virgil and his father in the flight deck waiting for him. "What's happened to Grandma?" he asked, as he sat down beside his father.

Jeff proceeded to tell him the news and Gordon went pale with worry. Knowing his sons would all be frantic with worry as he himself was, he hugged Gordon to him. "We'll find her, son, she's been wise enough to alert us to her whereabouts and she's got the full team on her trail. Penny's got a head start."

"Are we going as International Rescue, Dad?" Virgil asked as he began launching the huge craft. "Should we put our uniforms on?"

"Right now, I couldn't care less as long as we get her back safe. Where was John anyway that he had to be picked up from the station?" Jeff replied half to himself. Then he thought for a while and added, "Yes, you'd best put your uniforms on. Gordon's still wearing his bathers anyway. Seeing as we're using Thunderbirds One and Two, we'll have to go as International Rescue."

………………………………………………………………………………………

FAB 1 pulled up at the small country station at Foxleyheath and John got in. "What's wrong, Penny, where's Grandma?" he asked as soon as he noticed the absence of his grandmother in the car.

Lady Penelope filled John in with the details as Parker concentrated on the tracking system in the car linked to the stolen antiques. "They h'are 'eading south h'on the main road," he informed the two passengers.

"Good, Parker," Lady Penelope told him. "That road is nice and straight and leads to the coast, we can quickly catch them up."

John sat back in the seat of the car, his head a turmoil of emotions. The elation of this morning in Cheshire was now replaced by feelings of guilt and fear for his grandmother's safety. His mind then went to Alan up in Thunderbird Five. The kid would be frantic with worry, too. He knew what it was like to be stuck up there feeling helpless when one of the family members was in danger during a rescue. He also knew Alan would want to talk so he decided to contact him by watch, if only to let him know what Parker and Lady Penelope had just said. John clicked his watch and saw Alan's pale worried face. "Hi, Alan, any news on Grandma's transmitter signal?" he asked.

"It's still working good and strong. I've just updated Scott on the coordinates so he shouldn't be long getting there. She seems to be moving mighty fast, so she's in some sort of vehicle," Alan answered, still watching the blinking green light on the console.

"We're right behind her, Alan," John reassured him. We'll soon get her back."

"Those people, John, they could be dangerous, they might …." Alan broke off as his emotions got the better of him.

"Do the best you can for her, and keep tracking Alan. She's relying on you to lead us to her," John told his brother in an attempt to get him to stay strong and focused. "Keep Scott on the trail. If we surround them they might not attempt to do anything more stupid to land a longer prison stretch."

"FAB, John, I will," Alan answered with renewed determination in his voice to do his utmost to save his grandmother's life.

…………………………………………………………………………………………

Alexander Pennington was not happy with the call he'd received from his fellow criminals. He began to think as he threw a few clothes and toiletries together in a large holdall, before getting back into his car in pursuit of his associates. 'So they only managed one room?' he thought, 'Better than nothing but the old lady might be a problem. What to do with her? Dump her or see if more money could be got for her release. Depends who she is.'

He had been slightly tempted at first when planning all this to have another go at that under-floor safe in that house but changed his mind. It was too much trouble after what happened to Joe Selsdon and Harry Malloy. Those jewels had been tantalizingly close. He concentrated on the road ahead following the getaway car. They had a head start so they would be a few miles down the road and would all meet up at his boat. He began to relax a little, at least they had all got away, and that was all that mattered for now.

The getaway car drew in to the marina at Hove. The area was deserted due to the weather which had now changed to a slight drizzle. Ruth was quickly hustled out of the car and on to the nearby boat by the man that had been holding her since her ordeal began, whose name she had learnt was Ken. The two of them went immediately below deck. The other three members of the gang unloaded the boxes of antiques from Lady Penelope's house onto the boat, putting them with the rest of the stolen property from the previous break-ins.

"Now we just have to wait for Alex," Jane said, "I hope he makes it okay. I don't like this sitting around and waiting. It sets my nerves on edge."

"He'll be fine, he knows how to cover his tracks. The police can't trace this boat to him. For a start he's got her registered in another name," Bill Coates said.

"Watch this old girl 'ere and I'll make us all a cup of coffee while we're waiting," Ken said. Then he added, "Up to now she's been no trouble, never said a word."

They all looked at Ruth who was sitting opposite them on a cushioned chair. "Good, I hope she stays that way," Jane remarked. "Make her a cup, too. I expect she could do with it."

Pennington finalised the last stage of his getaway. Just in case the police were on to him he had Ken's car parked in the little village of Roynings just off the A23 road. He switched cars and drove the short distance to Hove down the quiet country lanes. He parked next to the other car on the marina and fled to the boat. Bill had been on deck and looking out for him. "Get her started, Bill. Once we get to Dieppe we're in the clear. Tom should be waiting to get us to the plane. I'll go and call him now."

…………………………………………………………………………………………

FAB 1 pulled up at the marina at Hove, they had missed the gang's boat by fifteen minutes. "The signal h'is still coming from the south M'Lady. Looks like they h'is 'eading for France," Parker said. He then asked, "Do you want me to put the 'ydrofoils on an' follow em?"

"No, Parker, there's too much shipping here. Drive to Newhaven. We are going to have to go over by the evening ferry. It's a bit slower but we're not beaten yet," Lady Penelope told him.

"What's the plan, Penny?" John asked. He was feeling cold tight knots inside his stomach with worry at this new development.

"Your father is using International Rescue as a cover to rescue your grandmother, John. So we are going to have to contact Agent 11, otherwise known as my good friend Charles Leroux. He lives in Rouen and can be in Dieppe in no time. He'll contact the French police, too. Scott should be here soon, you contact him and let him know and I'll contact Charles."

John passed the information on to Scott while Lady Penelope was on the radio, "Okay, John, I'm almost there now. I can watch out for them. Grandma's signal is still strong so Alan will let me know when she is close to me. I'll meet up with Agent 11 and we'll work together."

"Just get her back safe, Scott, I'm scared what they might do to her if things go wrong," John answered. His voice began to crack with emotion as he continued. "It's all my fault, Scott, I shouldn't have left her."

Scott had known of John's plan to go to Cheshire and had been pleased his younger brother had taken this opportunity to see his friend again. Now he had to listen to his feelings of guilt for going there. "Johnny it's not your fault, none of us could have known that this was going to happen or we wouldn't have let her go in the first place," he told him.

Lady Penelope had heard the last part of the conversation between the two brothers. "That's right, John, if anybody is to blame it is me," she told them. "Firstly I should not have allowed myself to be distracted by that man and secondly I should have had that tunnel bricked up years ago. I thought it would be useful for me in my line of work. I'll see that it is bricked up when all of this is over."

"H'if h'it's anybody's fault, h'it's mine," Parker suddenly said. "When Mr John first 'eard those noises that we thought were mice, h'I should 'ave checked 'h'it h'out then, h'and then we would 'ave caught 'em."

The radio links were open between Thunderbirds One, Two and Five and Jeff sitting in the flight deck of Thunderbird Two heard the conversation between his sons, Lady Penelope and Parker. He immediately went over to the radio and spoke to John and Lady Penelope, "Now hear this, none of you are to blame for what's happened, it's those criminals to blame and nobody else. I know it's a worrying situation but we have to stay focused on what we're doing and get her back to us. Is that understood?"

"Yes, Dad," John answered.

"Alright Jeff, I have contacted Charles and he's on his way to Dieppe now," Lady Penelope told him.

Jeff sat down beside Gordon again. His normally easy-going fourth son was still pale with worry. Jeff knew what a strain it was for all of them and at present Gordon was not doing anything constructive to take his mind off his grandmother's plight. He knew what his mother meant to his boys and he was beside himself with worry, too.

After thinking a while he told Gordon. "Get me the maps of the Dieppe area please, son, then we can study them to see where they may be heading."

………………………………………………………………………………………

Jane offered Ruth one of the sandwiches that had been prepared for the journey. It had been hours since any of them had eaten anything. "Here have this. You must be hungry as we are."

Ruth took the sandwich and thanked her. She began to eat as much as she could, but she was feeling a little seasick and worried too about her situation. It was the bathroom she needed anyway and she knew she couldn't hold out for much longer. She still hadn't spoken to her captors much, but knew she was going to have to. "Excuse me," she asked Jane, "Can I go to the bathroom please, I really need to go?"

Jane looked at her and then at Pennington, "Will it be okay to let her go?" she asked him.

"I don't suppose she can be any harm to us while we are at sea, besides we don't want a mess in here. Take her and wait for her to come back," he told her.

After they had gone out of the seating area, Ken asked Pennington, "Any ideas what we're going to do with her once we get to France?"

"She sounds American. Don't know who she is but if she's in with likes of her who owned the place she could be worth a ransom. It's risky though. On the other hand we could have just taken her back with us to her own country and dumped her there somewhere but there aren't enough seats on the plane. No, we'll just stick to our original plan and dump her somewhere. Or she can just stay on here after we get off and meet Tom. Then she can find her own way back to where she came from, that's the best idea."

"She's seen us all though," the other gang member called Ted answered.

"I wouldn't be too worried if I were you," Pennington laughed. "She looks blind as a bat, and besides what if she has? We'll be well away from here and she doesn't know who we are."

They were interrupted by the sound of Pennington's cell phone ringing. "Steer for St Pierre-en-port," the voice on the other end said. "Dieppe is full of police. I can get closer to you by car there and we'll have to make a run for the plane. Bring the boxes up on deck so we can get them off quicker."

Pennington sighed, "Okay I'll tell Bill. Thanks Tom," he said as he switched off the phone. "You heard what he said, get those boxes up on deck, and get Jane to lend a hand, too."

…………………………………………………………………………………………

Scott flew high over the waters of the English Channel. "Okay, Alan, give me a fix on the transmitter signal now. I must be close to her," he radioed to his youngest brother.

"You are, Scott," Alan said with a little more hope. "You must be flying right above her!"

"There's thick clouds here, spoiling the view. I'll fly lower and circle around," Scott replied.

Alan continued looking at the screen in front of him. The slow moving green light was still strong and showed itself to be directly beneath Thunderbird One.

"Scott, can you see anything yet?" he asked impatiently.

His eldest brother answered immediately, "Don't worry, I can see a small boat below, she must be on it, if she's anywhere. It's heading for the French coast now and not far from it. I'm going to keep an eye on it, they can't escape now. Let the others on the base know, they are bound to be just as worried as we are."

"FAB," Alan said as he opened the connection up to Tracy Island.

The three other members of the Tracy family on board Thunderbird Two listened to the message and looked at each other with some hope at last. Gordon and Jeff studied the map of the French coast to see just where the boat was about to come in to land. .…………………………………………………………………………………………..

There hadn't been too many cars waiting to use the evening ferry to France on that day of the week, so the delay was mercifully short. John sat with Lady Penelope and Parker in the passenger lounge during the crossing. Parker had removed the tracking device from FAB 1 and was watching it intently. "H'It's showing movement to the south-west h'of where we h'are now. We h'are going to 'ave to move quick to catch up with 'em once we get 'hof 'ere."

"This thing is going to take for ever to cross compared with their boat," John complained. He got up and walked around with sheer frustration at not being able to do anything to help save his grandmother. It was almost as bad as being stuck in Thunderbird Five but at least he had somebody to speak to. He sat down again and put his head in his hands in despair.

"Just be thankful they don't go as slow as in the old days, John, dear," Lady Penelope gently squeezed his arm, knowing how worried he must be. "The others will be on the other side to catch up with them, remember?"

…………………………………………………………………………………………

Scott put Thunderbird One in hover mode above the coast and watched the tiny vessel make its way towards a small coastal harbour. He had contacted Charles Leroux and he was on his way from Dieppe with some of the police that had been there.

Once he was able to keep an eye on the position of the boat Scott contacted Virgil in Thunderbird Two.

"Thunderbird One to Thunderbird Two, I'm right over the suspect boat. I'm sure Grandma's still aboard, she just has to be. How far you off, Virgil?"

Virgil checked the instrument panel that gave him the answer to the question. "About nineteen and three quarter minutes, Scott," he answered and braced himself for the usual reply.

"Well hurry it along Virg, this boat is coming in to land soon. I think there's a car waiting for them." Scott replied as he watched the activity below.

"FAB, Scott, Thunderbird Two out," Virgil said as he cut off the communication. He thought to himself, 'I'm travelling at maximum speed, Scott, I can't go any faster.'

…………………………………………………………………………………………

Ruth leaned back on the chair on which she sat feeling utterly despondent. She hadn't a clue what was happening with her family, she couldn't see properly without her spectacles and the sea sickness was not helping her either. She was worried that she may lose the only means she had of being located if the nausea lasted much longer. Her captors were in a state of nervous tension as they paced about and ran up and down to the deck all the time. Suddenly Jane came rushing downstairs and said. "We're about to dock here, Bill said. Come on let's get off this thing and away."

Pennington stayed on the boat while the boxes were being unloaded into the car. There were two more to unload when the police and Charles Leroux arrived on the scene. "Get in the car!" Pennington yelled at the gang members. He ran below deck and pulled Ruth up by her arm and half carried, half pushed her up the steps saying, "Come on Granny you're our ticket to freedom."

Everything seemed to happen at once. Thunderbird Two came into view and hovered above the scene while Scott landed Thunderbird One beside the harbour near where the small boat had docked.

Pennington stood on the deck of the boat with Ruth in front of him, and to Scott's horror he pulled out a knife and held it to his grandmother's throat. "Just let me get in the car and go and I promise she won't get hurt!" the cornered criminal yelled at the nearby police.

Scott moved forward quickly and spoke quietly to a senior policeman, "Do as he says, we've had orders from her son to get her out of this alive. We can still trace them, they won't escape." His eyes caught the terrified look on his grandmother's face and he yearned to pull her away from that brute and kill him. Ruth though was unable to see her eldest grandson just yards from her.

The police officer stepped forward and asked Pennington in broken English, "If we let you go, how do we know you will keep your promise not to harm her? Where do you intend leaving the woman you are holding so we can get her back safely to her family?"

"I'll keep my word, I swear," Pennington said. "We'll leave her in a safe place after we drive away from here, as long as we're not followed, that is. Allow us to leave here in our waiting plane and you can have her back safe and sound."

"We've got to trust him," Scott whispered to the police sergeant urgently. "Let them go, they won't get far without us knowing."

The policeman weighed up the situation for a few seconds. He wondered who this little old lady was that International Rescue had been called out by her son to save her. He must be someone important. Not being able to come up with an alternate solution to save the life of the hostage he said, "Very well, we will do as you ask. Please do nothing to harm her."

Scott watched his beloved grandmother being dragged from the boat at knifepoint, and into the car nearby that was big enough to carry the entire gang. Her hair, normally tidy and pinned back was falling loosely about her shoulders. She looked ill, tired and above all terrified and she was not wearing her spectacles. She appeared unhurt physically as far as he could see. That was something he was thankful for at least.

As the car quickly sped away Scott turned to Charles Leroux, "They said they were leaving in a plane so there must be a small airfield around here. You follow them discreetly with the police in about fifteen minutes. We'll follow in the air and I'll contact you with the map reference as soon as I get it."

"What about Lady Penelope, shall I inform her?" he asked.

"Yes, fill her in with the details. She should be in France soon." Scott ran to get back on board Thunderbird One and inform the others what had happened though careful enough to spare the full extent of the details. He omitted the part about the knife and just said his grandmother had been taken as a hostage. He knew his father and younger brothers could only stand so much worry.

"We've got to let them think they can get away, Dad," Scott told him. "It's our only chance to get Grandma back safely. If we follow too soon they might do something to harm her. Alan is still tracking her and Penny will be able to link her tracking device to Thunderbird Five once the gang gets airborne. She's been told what's happened and should be over here with John soon."

Jeff sat silently thinking. He rubbed his eyes and neck then said, "Right, here's what we'll do. You follow your grandmother, Scott, to where ever they take her en route to their plane. Virgil, go to Dieppe. We are going to meet Penny and John from the ferry and pick them and the car up. Then we'll follow you, Scott. That way we can all get re-united quicker."

"FAB," Scott and Virgil both said in unison as they began to carry out their instructions, each hoping their grandmother's ordeal would soon be over. The worry was now if they would find her safe and well.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..


	5. Chapter 5

Day Three – Part Three

The car full of criminals and their hostage sped down some quiet country lanes in the late evening. The rain that had persisted all day in England and France was now turning to light drizzle and fog was coming in from the coast. "So Granny came in useful after all," Ted said. "Good job we brought her along with us."

Pennington glanced at his elderly hostage, "She did. Pity I had to scare her though, she reminds me of my old granny. We're going to have to dump her somewhere. No sign of unwelcome guests following is there, Tom?"

Tom glanced in his rear view mirror. "Nothing, but I still don't trust them. I think we should hang on to her. She must be worth a ransom if International Rescue gets called out to look for her."

"No, we just get away while we can," Pennington told him, "Not worth the trouble. Look, here's a farm up ahead, dump her there. She should be safe enough."

Minutes later, the car stopped and Ruth and Ken got out of the car beside a path that led up to a small farmhouse. Remembering that she could not see properly he turned her to face the way she needed to go. "Just keep walking in that direction and you'll get to that house. It's not very far to walk," her captor told her before he got back into the car and the gang quickly fled the scene.

………………………………………………………………………………………...

On board the ferry, John had been too anxious to sit still and he was now up on the deck looking hopefully for signs of the port of Dieppe coming into view. He was relieved when it was. "About time," he said out loud to a puzzled passenger beside him. Then he went back downstairs to tell Lady Penelope the good news.

"Good, John," she said. Then lowering her voice she added. "I've had a message to say your father is meeting us here with Virgil and Gordon. FAB 1 is going to be picked up and put in the pod so it is going to save us a lot of time."

"Terrific, but where's Virgil going to land right in the middle of the port?" John asked, relieved that at least they could make up some of the time they had lost.

"Now don't worry, John, dear. I'm sure they'll have solved that problem, too," she replied. "Let's just wait and see."

"H'I'd better go h'and get ready to get the car h'out, M'Lady," Parker said as he handed John the tracking device. "Can you keep h'an eye h'on that?" he asked him. "H'it might not work so good h'in the car deck below."

"Sure thing, Parker," John said as he studied the steady light flashing on the screen.

……………………………………………………………………………………….

Ruth felt relief in her heart at last as she walked cautiously up the path she'd been told would lead to a house. She'd heard the thieves saying International Rescue had been called out to look for her and she was free from those villains at last. She was tired and cold but now had some hope that her ordeal would soon be over. Her dear son and grandsons would be so worried about her, and so would Lady Penelope. Her other close friends at home would be, too, so for all of their sakes she had to keep going.

She put her hand on the silver locket around her neck and briefly told Grant of her plight before offering a silent prayer of thanks that she was still alive. Then pulling her cardigan tightly round her shoulders to protect her from the damp, late evening air she continued walking. It would be dark soon and she wanted to get to that house and summon help.

It wasn't too far and she could make out the shape of the door in front of her. She found a large iron door knocker and banged it as hard as she could. Seconds later a middle-aged man came to the door followed by his wife. Both were anxious to see who was calling on them this late in the evening.

Ruth had been thinking hard as she walked up the path about her days in school when she'd learned French. It was so long ago now and she never really needed to use the language, having been no further than a farm in Kansas after that. She just hoped the people that lived there spoke English or would still help her anyway. Now as she stood in front of these strangers she just cried out, "Please, help me!"

The farmer and his wife did not speak much English but could see that their visitor was in distress and promptly brought her into the warmth of their home.

…………………………………………………………………………………………

Exactly fifteen minutes after the gang had left the scene at the harbour, Charles Leroux and the police began their pursuit. Scott launched Thunderbird One and immediately contacted Alan. "Thunderbird One to Thunderbird Five. What's the latest fix on the signal from Grandma, Alan?"

"She's not moving fast anymore, Scott," Alan told him anxiously, not knowing it that was a good sign or not. "The signal went very slow now it's stopped altogether, reference E24268-0"

"Good work, Alan," Scott said. "They must have released her. I'll tell Agent 11 and he can go after her while I pursue those crooks."

"FAB, Scott, I hope you get them for what they did to Grandma," Alan replied. He looked at the stationery green light on the console and gently touched the glass above it with his finger and willed her to be safe and unhurt.

Scott quickly opened the link to the radio in the limousine belonging to Charles Leroux. "They must have released her," he told the French agent. "Go to reference E24268-0, that's her last known location. Be fast, Charles, I want to know if she's safe. Take care of her for us until we all meet up. I'm going after the low life now. With any luck this fog might delay them from taking off."

"Oui, Monsieur, I'll do my best," the agent told him, "I'll let the police know."

Scott flew off to circle the area to scan for any sign of a plane. He knew the gang couldn't be too far away from the area. He informed Virgil en route about the latest news concerning their grandmother.

"FAB, we'll be right over as soon as I collect the others from the ferry," Virgil replied.

………………………………………………………………………………………...

Parker drove FAB 1 out of the ferry landing at Dieppe. Lady Penelope and John looked around the scene for some sign of International Rescue amongst the heavy traffic and general public. They didn't have to wait long when Virgil came through on the radio, "Thunderbird Two is waiting in a park north-east of here, it's just outside the town. It's not far, follow the road to the north-east and you'll find us."

Soon FAB 1 was safely inside the pod of Thunderbird Two and its three occupants went to join Jeff, Gordon and Virgil on the flight deck. John dreaded facing his father and brothers. He still felt racked with guilt over what had happened in spite of what Scott and Jeff had said earlier. Jeff though was only too pleased to see them all. He stood up and, knowing how John was feeling he embraced his son to him to reassure him he didn't blame him for his grandmother's abduction. He gave Lady Penelope a reassuring hug, too, before they all took their seats again. Parker was still operating the scanner for the antiques and sat in front with Virgil so the two of them could follow the trail.

"We've traced her," Jeff said to both of them. "Virgil, you follow Scott. Penny, can we borrow the Rolls to go and meet mother?"

"Of course, Jeff," she replied. "Parker and I will stay with Virgil to follow Scott to help him and the police catch those criminals."

Relief began to flood through John's senses; then he asked, "Gordon's wearing his uniform though, Dad, what about me?"

"The police know International Rescue is involved so Gordon will be their representative as Scott and Virgil will be busy elsewhere. You and I will be going as family members. With any luck Agent 11 and the police should be with her now," Jeff told him. He was secretly bracing himself for the report from Charles Leroux on his mother's condition and prayed that it was a good one.

…………………………………………………………………………………………

The small farmhouse had become a hive of activity since Ruth's arrival. The farmer and his wife enlisted the help of their English speaking daughter who had been about to take a bath when their unexpected visitor arrived. Now Ruth sat beside the warm fire drinking a mug of hot chocolate and told the tale of how she came to be there. No sooner had the tale been told and the daughter translated it to her parents, when Charles Leroux knocked on the door. A police car had accompanied him to the scene and he waited with the two police officers.

The farmer had expected this to happen after hearing the story but not quite so soon. "Do you have an elderly American woman here in a distressed state?" he was asked by one of the policemen.

"Yes, she is here. She told us she had been kidnapped and abandoned here," the farmer replied. "Come in."

International Rescue's French agent went over to Ruth who had been listening to the conversation in French between the farmer and the police. He introduced himself. "How are you feeling Mrs Tracy? I have been asked by our friend Lady Penelope to take care of you until your family arrives. They are on their way now. My name is Charles Leroux." He hoped the shock and distress would not cause her to reveal his true identity as an agent working for her son.

He needn't have worried. Ruth was feeling stronger and more relaxed, now that she was away from her captors. She knew once the man had mentioned Lady Penelope he would most likely be involved with Jeff's secret organization. "I feel a lot better," she answered. "I just wish I could see clearly. I lost my spectacles when those thieves made me go with them. Have they caught them yet? They've stolen some of Lady Penelope's things"

"Did they hurt you at all?" one of the policemen asked in his best English.

"No, I thought they were going to," she replied. "I thought it best to keep my mouth shut and not say anything to annoy them. There were times I wanted to tell them what I thought of them but I held my tongue. I'm sorry I can't give you a description, I couldn't see them properly."

"Don't worry about it Mrs Tracy, we have no doubts that we'll catch them," Charles Leroux told her.

…………………………………………………………………………………………

Meanwhile Scott had been circling the area trying to locate the signs of the thieves and their plane. He couldn't see any small private airfields and narrowed his search for a large field or another suitable area that an aircraft could use to take off in.

He was soon rewarded by his effort when the scanners indicated life forms below. Scott quickly swept beneath the thick clouds and saw the car the thieves had used parked in a driveway of a large house. Behind it was a small plane and the thieves were busy loading the boxes of stolen items on board. "Got them at last," Scott said out loud with satisfaction as he soared skywards again. Now he had to inform the police who had been following at a discreet distance so the criminals would not be alerted. He called Alan who was on standby for this with the police radio frequency. "Thunderbird One to Thunderbird Five," he began.

"Go ahead, Scott," Alan replied.

"I've found them, Alan. Tell the police the reference is 565/625. Tell them to make it fast, Alan, it won't be long before these crooks are ready to take off," Scott told him.

"FAB, Scott, I'm opening the frequency now," Alan told his eldest brother, who, like him desperately wanted the criminals brought to justice for what they had done to their grandmother.

On the ground below the thieves were getting desperate to get away. Ted had jumped when Thunderbird One had swooped down but put it down to a low flying aircraft on route to Rouen. Pemberton was not entirely convinced, "I don't trust them. I won't be happy until we leave here," he said. "Are you sure the pilot can take off in this fog, Tom?"

"Piece of cake for him, quit worrying. He's got radar hasn't he?" Tom replied as he watched the last two boxes being loaded. "Pity about those other two boxes left in the boat, come on let's get in the plane."

Jane was the last person to board the plane and just as she did, the police arrived on the scene at the same time as Thunderbird Two. Virgil set the huge craft down in an adjacent field. Seeing they were surrounded, the criminals made a hasty attempt to launch the plane.

"They're on to us! Get going now!" Pemberton yelled to the pilot.

"This has been a disaster from the start," Jane complained as the plane taxied across the bumpy ground. "We should never have done that mansion, we'd enough without that. We could've been away home and dry now."

Scott had suspected they might try to get away and had been circling the area again, not wanting to let the thieves know they had been discovered. He quickly descended and fired a missile from Thunderbird One that caused damage to the tail of the plane, right where he intended to hit. That way the thieves would not be hurt and the boxes of antiques damaged. The damaged plane was unable to rise and take off and slid to a halt. Scott set Thunderbird One down in the field next to Thunderbird Two and quickly left the craft to join his brother, Lady Penelope and Parker to help round up the gang.

………………………………………………………………………………………...

The farmer opened his door for the third time that evening to admit visitors to his home. John spoke in fluent French and introduced himself and his father and younger brother, telling him why they were there.

The farmer promptly showed them into his home and Jeff saw his mother. To his relief she appeared unhurt but looked very tired after her ordeal. He quickly went over to her and hugged her to him and kissed her. She returned the embrace and hugged him to her as though her life depended on it. She kissed his cheek and he finally spoke to her, "Are you okay Mother, you're not hurt are you?" he asked.

"I'm just fine, son, and even better now you're here," she replied. "Just wish I could see you properly but I lost my spectacles."

"I have them here, Mom," he told her as he broke from her embrace to retrieve them from his pocket. "Penny brought them along with her and gave them to me."

She slipped them on to her nose and smiled, "That's better, now I can see everybody," she said and looking around she saw John waiting to greet her after his father. She saw Gordon, too, but knew that as he was wearing his uniform she had to keep her relationship to him a secret which pained her. She wanted to hug all her family again she was so happy.

"Here's someone else that's pleased to see you," Jeff told her and beckoned John over to his grandmother. The two of them embraced and John told her, "I'm just so pleased you're okay, Grandma, I've been so worried about you."

Ruth stroked his blonde hair, "Well I'm pleased to see you, too, darling and can't wait to see all the family again."

She gave him another hug and stood up. Security or no security she was going to get around that problem somehow. "I guess I have somebody else to thank for bringing you two to me," she said as she gazed on her red haired grandson looking so smart in the uniform she'd made for him. By his expression, he was feeling left out of things but was doing his best to keep his father's rules intact. "Come here young man and let me thank you. You boys from International Rescue do such a good job."

Gordon walked over and was given a huge hug and a kiss too, which he briefly returned and tried to make it look as casual as he could. Smiling, he gave her a gracious bow and said, "All part of the service Ma'am, we aim to please. I'm sure my buddies will tell you the same when you meet them later. We will, of course be taking you and your son and the other man back to England and to the home where you were staying."

"Oh my, I'll look forward to that," Ruth smiled as she told him. "Not many people my age get to fly in a Thunderbird. The other man is my grandson, dear."

"He is? Oh yeah, I forgot he called you 'Grandma' didn't he?" Gordon answered smiling at John, who was, along with Jeff, fascinated by the acting skills of both of them.

They were interrupted by the farmer's wife serving coffee for her guests along with some home made French pastries which looked very tempting.

The police may want to ask your mother if she wants to press charges for kidnap and threatened assault," Charles Leroux whispered to Jeff when he managed to get a quiet word with him.

"I want them jailed for everything the law can get on them," Jeff replied. He looked fondly at his mother who was busy asking the farmer's daughter to let her have the recipe for the pastries they were all enjoying. His two sons even more so, he realized Gordon hadn't had the chance to make breakfast for everybody before they came here, no wonder he was so hungry. Jeff felt hungry himself and took another piece.

………………………………………………………………………………………….

All seven criminals had been arrested and were securely locked up in the police cars. Scott and Virgil stood with Lady Penelope and Parker beside the damaged plane while the rest of the police were unloading the boxes of stolen antiques. Parker ran the scanner over them and the items belonging to his employer registered with a loud bleeping noise coming from two boxes. "Those will be mine in there, Officer," Lady Penelope told him. "I do hope they haven't damaged my mantel clock. It's a family heirloom and over three hundred years old."

"I'm sorry, Madam, but you won't be able to take them back with you," the policeman told her. "They will be used as evidence along with all the rest. As soon as they are photographed we will see that all items are returned to their rightful owners."

"Oh, of course, how tiresome. Please take care of my things for me. Will it help if my chauffeur marks my boxes with my name?" she asked. "It will save you having to sort everything out to return each item to its own home."

"I'm sure my superiors will have no objections to that, Madam," the policeman replied. "It will be a big help later."

"Well I guess we can't do anything more here," Scott said after most of the policemen had gone. "Come on let's go and meet Grandma. I'm pleased she's okay after all of this."

"Me, too. Dad, Gordon and John will have met up with her by now," Virgil replied.

"You got any food in there, Virg? I'm starving," Scott asked as they all began to walk back to the waiting Thunderbirds.

"Might have, I'm not sure," Virgil replied, "Take a look and see."

"Never mind, Scott, when we all get back to my home we will all have something to eat and I insist you all stay overnight, too." Lady Penelope told him.

When they got to Thunderbird Two, Virgil turned and looked as the police cars drove away with their cargo of crooks and stolen goods. "I hope they find the Mr. Big in all of this. He must have funded it all. They were going to sell everything on once they got to where they were going," he said. "More stolen works of art may get returned to their owners if they do"

"Right now, Virg, I just want to see our stolen treasure," Scott told him. "After I grab something to eat on the way there."

Scott went to the living quarters of Thunderbird Two while the others went up to the flight deck. He opened a storage container and to his surprise found it contained two of his stolen chocolate muffins. Smiling to himself, he walked to Thunderbird One with the container, thinking, 'Looks like I got my stolen goods back, too, Virg.'

A few minutes later the sound of the two Thunderbirds could be heard above the farm house and four more unexpected guests were shown into the large room inside. Once again Ruth was greeted this time by Lady Penelope who was so thankful to see her alive and apparently unhurt. Parker expressed his pleasure of seeing her again, too. Scott was longing to hug his grandmother after seeing her held hostage at knifepoint, he was the only family member who knew about that. Virgil's feelings were similar to the rest of the family, in that he wanted to hug her, too. It was Ruth though that solved the problem as before with security. She looked at her two grandsons and smiled at them. "Let me thank you other two boys from International Rescue for all you have done for me," she hugged and kissed both Scott and Virgil in turn.

Gordon watched as his brothers faces both tried to remain composed and said to them, "I told Mrs Tracy it's all part of the service we do, isn't it, guys?"

"Yeah and those crooks will be spending a long time behind bars," Scott said. "I don't think they'll be trying that little stunt again."

Jeff stood up and said, "I think it's getting late and we ought to be leaving now. You must be tired, too, Mother."

After Ruth and everyone else thanked her host and hostess along with their daughter, they left to go out into the very late evening air. The police had obtained a statement from Ruth concerning the whole incident. She had been spared the usual trip to the precinct to do this because of her age and the trauma she had already suffered. Instead a detective and a police doctor had come out to her.

Once the statement was received and she had been examined and declared unhurt, they left the scene. The doctor gave her a mild sedative to take before going to bed in order to help her sleep better, after Ruth insisted that she wanted to go back with her family and friends. The police had received a report that the people responsible had been arrested and they went to interview them.

Charles Leroux was thanked by all of the Tracy clan present and Lady Penelope. Jeff shook hands with him as he left to get into his car. "Thanks again for everything, Charles," he told him. The French agent smiled and said, "It's all part of the service, Monsieur, so I hear."

They stood and waved him off as the limousine drove away out of sight. "He's a good man, Penny, I'm pleased you recommended him to me to take on as an agent," Jeff told her.

"Yes, he's certainly one of the best in our line of business. He worked with me on a number of occasions," Lady Penelope replied. "Come on let's go home, I'm sure everybody is tired and hungry."

"I am for sure," Gordon answered.

"You know, Dad," John began as they began walking towards the two Thunderbirds, "I think Gordon's in the wrong business. He could have won an Academy Award for his performance in there earlier."

"He wasn't the only one, son, "Jeff said as he took his mother's arm. "I know where he inherited it from."

He hugged his mother close to him again as they reached Thunderbird Two.

……………………………………………………………………………………….

The journey back to Foxleyheath didn't take as long as it had for those who had travelled to France earlier. It was, thankfully, dark and still foggy so the two Thunderbird machines could land virtually unseen in the part of her huge estate in that Lady Penelope described as her 'wild life garden reserve' where the old croquet lawn had been allowed to grow wild next to the ruins of the stone curtain wall of the old castle.

Once all of the passengers were out of Thunderbird Two, the four Tracy brothers covered both crafts with green camouflage covers before going into the mansion to get something to eat and drink before going to bed. Lily had been informed of their imminent return and had provided hot soup and sandwiches for everybody which was most welcoming. Before going to bed though Ruth asked Jeff and Lady Penelope, "Can I ask you both a special favour? I would like to see Alan and let him know I'm fine and tell the others on the island also."

"Why certainly, we'll let you do that," Lady Penelope told her. "We can go to my study, you can talk to them all in there."

"Alan did well," Scott told her. "He kept us informed of where you were all the time."

"Good job Brains invented those edible transmitters," Jeff said, "They have been tried and tested now alright."

Lady Penelope showed Ruth to her study where she had similar video links to the ones on Tracy Island but on a smaller scale. Instead of portraits of the five Tracy brothers, there were five pictures of items associated with their hobbies. Scott's was a jet plane, Virgil a piano. John's was a picture of earth from space. Gordon had a leaping dolphin and Alan a racing car. A sixth picture of Tracy Island was Jeff's, a landscape of palm trees, sand and sea. Anybody that came in would think the pictures were nothing other than what they showed. She pressed a button on her desk and the racing car was replaced by the face of Alan. "Hello Alan," Lady Penelope began, "I have somebody here that wishes to speak to you."

Ruth stood looking at the face of her youngest grandson. "Grandma!" he exclaimed, "Gee it's so good to see you, are you okay?"

"I'm fine sweetie, thanks to you," she smiled back at him and longed to hold him as she had the others. "We've just got back here and I'll be going to bed soon but I wanted to see you before I did."

"Scott said they got the bad guys, Grandma, I sure hope they lock them up well for a long time for what they did to you, and to Penny's things," he told her.

"I'm sure they will be darling. I'll have to go now because it's very late here and we're all tired. I'm just going to speak to Tin Tin and the others on the island first. Goodnight Alan."

"Okay, enjoy the rest of your stay, Grandma, goodnight," he answered. Then the image changed to a racing car again as the link was cut.

Later Jeff accompanied his mother up to her room as though he was scared to let her out of his sight again. When they reached her bedroom door she gave him a hug and stroked his cheek. "Don't worry, son, I'll be fine. I just want to go to bed and get some sleep now. You and the boys do the same. You must all be tired, too."

He kissed her and said, "Okay, Mom, goodnight. I'll see you tomorrow."

…………………………………………………………………………………………

Scott came out of the en suite bathroom into the room he was sharing with John for the night. John was standing looking out of the open window at the groups of stars that were appearing in the sky. The clouds were finally breaking after the miserable weather throughout the day. John looked at the great square of the constellation of Pegasus, with the stars of the Andromeda galaxy twinkling faintly in the top left corner. He thought back to his visit to Steve's home and family. Little Darren was probably tucked up in bed now unaware that the winged horse was just above him. So absorbed was he in his thoughts, he never heard Scott come in.

"Come on, John, don't you get enough of seeing stars?" Scott asked him as he went towards his own bed to get in. "It's late and we're both tired after everything that's happened today."

"Sorry, Scott, I was just thinking," he said as he closed the window and faced his brother.

He sat down on his own bed and put his head in his hands. "You know Grandma could've been killed, Scott. Then how could I ever face any of you guys again, or Dad? I suppose I would have to stay up in Five for months at a time and get leave away from the island now and again. I wouldn't be able to forgive myself though wherever I was."

Scott was over to his younger brother in an instant and sat down beside him putting his arm around his shoulders, he pulled him to him. "Johnny, you've been told you're not to blame for what happened. Stop tearing yourself apart like this." Scott too had the vision of the knife being held at his grandmother's throat in his mind and knew how very easily she might just have been killed. "She's fine Johnny and probably asleep now. What's more, if she knew you thought this way she would be upset, too. I've never heard her or Dad say anything about your not being there when she was abducted and being to blame. I told Dad where you were and he just accepted it. Come on, this is Grandma we're talking about. She's an adult not a little child that has to be babysat at all times. We all thought she would be safe here with Penelope and her security gadgets that put Fort Knox to shame. They just managed to beat the system that's all, in an unusual way. Just be grateful they had a sense of decency and left her safe and well."

"It's just that it was such a good trip, Scott," he told his brother still leaning his head on Scott's chest. "I enjoyed it because it was like old times before we started International Rescue. The two days I had there were the best I've had for ages. Then I come back to everything that happened here. Nothing happened when Grandma went with Virgil to Philadelphia when he went to that art exhibition and she visited some friends did it? Or when you and Dad went to New York with her to give her a break while you both had a business meeting? It seems I can't be as lucky as that."

"Johnny, you're tired and not thinking straight," Scott told him. "If you were you would have remembered what happened to her and Alan on the bridge over the San Miguel River. Did anybody hold Alan and his racing car hobby to blame for it? I don't think so, little brother. Now come on and get some sleep. Besides don't you threaten to have Alan and Gordon together on the island for months at a time. I might be the one to leave if they were. Those kids drive everybody nuts at times after only a few days together."

John sat up and looked into the dark blue eyes of his brother. "Okay, Scott, I guess I am a bit tired. Thanks for listening."

"That's what I'm here for, Johnny," he smiled and gave his brother a huge hug. "Virg isn't too happy at being left with Gordo but I'm sure he'll get over it. Tomorrow you can tell me all about your trip."

John smiled and thought what a lucky escape he had there by not sharing a room with his red-haired brother, "I guess I have two reasons to be glad of your company then. Goodnight, Scott."

"Goodnight, John," Scott replied as he got up to go back to his own bed. He was pleased he followed his instincts by offering to share with John, in spite of Virgil's protests at being left with Gordon, who everybody knew, was a noisy sleeper and an early riser. Virgil was neither. He hated being woken too soon from his sleep if his energetic younger brother decided to get up early then sing loudly in the shower, to some ghastly pop song blaring from the radio. Scott knew John well enough to know that he would still be blaming himself for what had happened to their grandmother and would want to talk about it.

Ruth had felt too tired to have a shower, so after settling for a quick wash she changed and sat on her bed for a few minutes just trying to relax and be thankful she was here in familiar surroundings. The sedative was taking effect now. She looked around the room, her eyes falling on the portrait of Lady Ann Kerr-Doulton again in her elegant yellow silk dress and wondered what life was like here when she was alive. Did she live here in this house and was this her bedroom? 'I'll have to ask Lady Penelope about her,' she thought as she got into bed. She lay awake for a few more minutes clasping her silver locket, and telling Grant how thankful she was that she was safe again and she was not going to let what happened spoil the rest of her visit, she wanted to see some more of London and that is what she was going to do. After offering a thankful prayer, she finally fell into a deep sleep.


	6. Chapter 6

Day Four

The next morning Parker was up early. He picked up the morning newspaper and went towards the kitchen, intending to read it over breakfast.

"Mornin, Lil. H'I could just h'eat h'a plate h'of h'eggs h'an bacon. H'I'm starved h'after yesterday," he said to the cook as he sat down at the large wooden table. "Never 'ad much to h'eat h'all day."

"I know, yer missed yer dinner last night," she answered as she put a plate down in front of him. "Good job I got up early to make breakfasts for all of 'em, too. 'ere you are, I've put a nice sausage on, an' a bit of fried bread, seeing as you like it. I've just boiled the kettle."

"Thanks, Lil. H'I'll h'enjoy this," He said. "H'I 'ave to h'organize some builders to come h'and brick h'up that tunnel h'after h'I've seen to their breakfasts h'upstairs. Then the police might come back. H'I 'ope the press don't come. Mr. Tracy won't want them 'ere."

…………………………………………………………………………………………

Ruth had also woken up early. She had slept very well after her unexpected journey yesterday and the morning sun was shining brightly through her bedroom window. After showering, she put on a new dress that she had bought in London. The bright little flowery pattern matched her cheerful mood. She left her room to find the dining room again and see who else was up.

She tried to remember the route to the dining room John had shown her. After the day in London and all that happened later though, she took a wrong turning somewhere. After going down an unfamiliar corridor she came across a door. Trying to remember if she had been here when Lady Penelope had given her a tour of the house, she opened it. The room was large and toys were neatly placed around one end of the room, four small beds were at the other.

"The nursery suite," she whispered to herself. "Yes, I've been here, now if I go past the old schoolroom, I should come across some stairs that the servants used."

Pleased with herself, she found the stairs and descended down them. She kept on going down until she thought she reached the back of the main entrance hall. Seeing yet another door in front of her she opened it and found herself in the kitchen by a different entrance to the one she had used before.

Parker hastily took his feet off the kitchen stool and put down the paper he'd been reading while drinking his mug of tea. Lil was equally surprised to have an unexpected visitor to her kitchen at this early hour, and dropped Parker's empty plate she had been carrying back to the sink. It broke on the floor sending pieces of it scattering around.

"Oh dear, I'm sorry," Ruth said. "I seem to have gotten lost when I came out of my room and took a wrong turn. This house is just so big. Here let me help you pick that broken plate up."

"H'It's quite h'alright, Madam, h'I'll see to h'it." Parker said as he went to get a brush and dustpan from the cupboard. "Then h'I'll show you h'up to the dining room."

After he had gone out to the corridor Ruth walked over to where Lil was. "I'll help you with the breakfasts if you like dear. There are a lot to make with most of my family here and Lady Penelope. The boys will be hungry as usual. It's such a lot to do for one person."

"It's alright, M'am , I can manage," Lil told her. "'sides you should be taking it easy arfter yesterday. I'm pleased you got back safely, M'am."

"Thanks, dear, so am I. Well, just let me make some pancakes for them and you can do the rest," Ruth answered. "Just show me where you keep the maple syrup and the batter mix and I'll soon have them made."

"We don't keep no maple syrup here, M'am, on account of there's not much call for it." Lil told her. "I only make pancakes for Nos- er Mr. Parker on Pancake Day an 'e likes lemon on 'is. I've done 'em all some toast an they 'ave marmalade on that."

Parker could sense that the presence of Ruth was not going down too well with Lil, and decided to persuade her once again to go to the dining room. "The h'others will be wondering where you h'are, Madam, h'and may be worrying h'about you h'again."

"Oh you're right," she replied. "They will be. I suppose I should go and see them."

"H'I'll show you the way, Madam," Parker told her.

Ruth turned to Lil and said. "I can come back here this afternoon, and do some baking if you like. I got a nice recipe for making some little cakes in France, or I can show you how I make my apple pies. After yesterday I don't want to go very far."

"Yes, we'll see, Ma'm. 'er Ladyship may have other plans for you," Lil replied, trying to keep composed while making a pot of coffee.

The Tracys and Lady Penelope were all assembled for breakfast and were getting concerned about Ruth's non-appearance. "If she's not here in five minutes I'm going up to her room," Jeff said. "She may be sick after yesterday, or suffering from delayed shock or something."

"Grandma may have just gotten lost on the way here," John said. "I showed her the way once but she may have forgotten it again."

Parker appeared with Ruth behind him, "'ere we h'are, Madam, sit down then 'h'I can begin to serve h'up breakfast."

"Where have you been, Mom? We were getting worried about you," Jeff asked.

"I'm sorry, I got lost and ended up in the kitchen," Ruth smiled. "I offered to help with the breakfast but the cook seemed to be able to manage. I told her I can go back later and do some baking if we are not going far today."

Jeff caught Lady Penelope's eye and pleaded for some help with the situation. Lady Penelope thought for a few seconds and said to Ruth, "Oh, but I thought you would want to come down to the stables and see the horses. You never got the chance the other day. I thought we could go down this afternoon. It's such a nice day today."

"That's right we didn't get to see them," Ruth agreed. "Yes, we'll do that then. Will your cook be able to manage to make meals for all of us on her own? It must be hard work."

"Grandma, you're supposed to be having a rest from all of that," Scott reminded her.

"Lily can manage quite well on her own," Lady Penelope assured Ruth. "She has a well equipped kitchen and she enjoys cooking. Her mother was the Earl of Derraville's cook. So she has been well taught in how to prepare meals for a large number of people."

"Well, if you're sure it's okay," Ruth replied. "I told her we could make some of those little French cakes I got the recipe for yesterday, though."

"Save it for when you get home, Grandma," Gordon said. "I'll enjoy eating them."

"It looks like I'll have to," she answered him. Then she added with surprise, "Why are you still wearing your bathrobe? You're not going swimming in Lady Penelope's fish pond are you? I didn't think it was that deep."

"Don't give him ideas, Grandma, he might just do that." Scott laughed. "Gordon has a bit of a problem regarding clothes, or rather the lack of them, you see."

"Didn't he leave any in Thunderbird Two, when he changed into his uniform?" John asked.

"Nope, he cleared his clothes out and put them in the laundry yesterday," Scott told him. "Then he got called out here fresh from his morning swim, so he only has two choices of wardrobe, his uniform or what he's wearing now."

"I was going to put some clean clothes in there after breakfast," Gordon told them. "Just didn't get the chance, that's all."

"So what are you boys going to do today?" Lady Penelope asked to change the subject and spare Gordon's embarrassment. "I know you won't want to leave until it's dark."

"We thought we'd spend some time in the games room this morning," Scott told her and added. "Virgil looks like he could do with some more sleep. It's best to leave him on the nearest sofa."

"Yeah well, you try sleeping with a jackhammer going off in your room all night and see how much sleep you get," Virgil answered glaring at Scott.

"Don't know what you mean, Virg," Gordon remarked with a smile. "I never heard anything."

"All right, you two, that's enough. Here's our breakfast coming now." Jeff told his two sons as Parker returned with the breakfast trolley. After serving everyone he returned to the kitchen.

………………………………………………………………………………………….

Lil was not in the best of moods when he got there. "I arsk you, who does she think she is? Me needing help to make breakfasts indeed," she complained as she gathered up the dishes and pans she had used to put in the dishwasher. "I know she was just trying to be 'elpful. I'm pleased she's not bin 'urt arfter been dragged off with those crooks an' all that, but she belongs up there with 'er and the rest of 'em, not down 'ere."

"Cheer h'up, Lil," Parker laughed. "You complain h'enough h'about not getting 'h'any 'elp now you don't want h'it.

"Not from 'er I don't. Pancakes an' maple syrup, since when 'ave I made that for breakfast in this 'ouse? What's the use when she never eats 'em?" she continued to complain. "An' French cakes she wants to make, too. It'll take all me time to cook lunch an dinner today with all of 'em here without all that. I might make an apple pie for dessert sometime before she goes 'ome and see 'ow she likes it."

"You do that then, Lil," Parker answered. "H'Im h'off to my h'office see h'about some builders coming."

………………………………………………………………………………………….

Later that morning Jeff, his mother and Lady Penelope were sitting out in the Rose Garden relaxing in the sunshine. There had been a brief account of yesterday's events in the newspaper that Jeff had just finished reading. Parker came out and told Lady Penelope that two policemen were waiting to speak to her and Mrs Tracy.

"I'd better come, too, Penny" Jeff told her. "I want to hear what they have to say about those art thieves."

The two policemen were waiting in the same room that Alexander Pennington had distracted Lady Penelope in the previous day while the gang were at work in the library. They introduced themselves as soon Lady Penelope and her two guests entered.

"Good morning, Madam. My name is Inspector Collins and this is Detective Sergeant Rayner. We won't keep you long from your business. We just want to talk to you about your stolen antiques and the abduction of your guest here," he nodded towards Ruth. "I trust you are feeling well after your ordeal, Mrs Tracy?"

"Yes, thank you, I am," she replied, "Now that I'm back with my family and friends. This is my son with me now."

Lady Penelope answered, "Have you finished with my antiques yet? I would so like to get them back."

"It won't be long, Madam," he told her and went on. "The case against all of them is strong enough. It seems you and International Rescue with the help of the French police managed to smash a major ring of art thieves dealing in pieces stolen from all over the world. The people involved here yesterday were only small fish in the pond. Our colleagues in other countries have managed to track down the ringleaders, thanks to the documents our little gang in France were carrying. We can now hope to recover some of the priceless paintings and antiques that have been stolen from countries all over Europe and the United States. Some of the articles have been sold to criminals living on luxury estates in South America and elsewhere. Some of these are still wanted men, who, shall we say, did not come by their wealth by honest means. Our colleagues in the United States and South America are busy making arrests right now."

"Well I'm pleased that we have been such a big help to you," Lady Penelope told him. "All I wanted to do was get both my friend and my antiques safely back. I knew I could trace my antiques and my friend's son was desperate to get his mother back safely. He knew International Rescue could help with the technology they have, and they could get to France much quicker than I could."

"You don't know how we can contact them to say thanks, do you, sir?" the Inspector asked Jeff. "I'm sure there will be a lot of grateful people that would want to."

"No, I can't say I do," Jeff told him seriously. "Just do what everybody else does and contact them by radio. I'm sure they'll get to hear it."

"Thanks for your time, Madam. We'd better be going now. As you can imagine we have a lot of work to do," Detective Collins told her as they stood up to leave.

"I'll just get my butler to show you out," Lady Penelope told him as she rang for Parker. "I have had a telephone call from the local media who wish to cover the story. I have promised to give a press conference in the village hall soon, so I must get ready for that. I don't want Mrs Tracy and her family to be put through all of that stress, so they can stay here in peace while I deal with them."

Half an hour later Jeff and Ruth and the four Tracy brothers were sitting drinking morning coffee in the lounge, served before Lady Penelope and Parker left to go to the press conference. Jeff told them what the police had said. "So we pulled off a different kind of rescue this time boys and a lot of people are pleased with you all."

"Yeah but it's mainly thanks to Brains for inventing the edible transmitter and for Grandma remembering to use it," Virgil answered. "Then Alan for being so alert and

keeping track of Grandma so well."

"We are a great team, even if I say so myself." Gordon answered.

Ruth looked at him still clad in his beach robe. "You know I was waiting to go home before I gave you some little gifts I bought for you all in London, but I think you could do with yours now, darling. If John can show me up to my room and back, I don't want to get lost again. I'll get yours and give it to you now. You other boys can all wait and you'll get them later with everyone else.

Minutes later John and his grandmother were back. She carried a large bag advertising the name of a London store. Gordon had an expression on his face reserved for his birthday or Christmas when presents came his way. "Here you are, Gordon, seeing as you need it, I hope you like it and seeing as it has a blue design you can wear your uniform pants with it, nobody will notice."

He opened the bag to reveal a white shirt with an ocean scene of dolphins on the front and back. Gordon smiled with pleasure and kissed her, "Thanks Grandma, it's terrific. I'll go and get changed now," he told her. Then he found another little article in the bag. Pulling it out he revealed a small book entitled 'One Thousand Jokes About The Sea.' "Wow, Grandma, I love this, too," he beamed and showed his brothers. "Look guys, what else I got," he said to them.

Virgil groaned, "Did you have to get him that, Grandma? I guess I'll be hearing them all the way home now."

"All I can say is I'm pleased I'm staying here a day or two longer," John laughed.

Gordon left to go to Thunderbird Two and change into his uniform pants and put his new shirt on. He was pleased he had something cooler to wear as it was getting quite hot wearing his robe.

After Gordon had left, Scott suggested to his remaining two brothers, "How 'bout going for a walk in the gardens until lunch? Then John can tell us about his trip."

Knowing Scott wanted to miss the beginning of the 'One Thousand Jokes About The Sea' when Gordon returned, John and Virgil were eager to join him.

Jeff watched them all go out and smiled to his mother. "Good job you bought that for Gordon to wear, he'll be more comfortable now."

"I found this little store in London that sold that sort of thing and it catered for everybody's hobbies and interests," she told him. "I couldn't resist buying it for him and the book."

"You know the others will avoid him as much as possible once he starts on those jokes, "Jeff laughed. "I wouldn't be surprised if that's why they've gone out now."

Lady Penelope returned with Parker from the press conference and everybody assembled for lunch.

"How did it go, Penny?" Jeff asked her.

"I think I gave them enough information to keep the media satisfied. There were some other victims of the gang there. Some of the other innocent cleaners were also there, worried in case they were implicated in the thefts. They've worked for the cleaning agency in Crawley for years until Pennington came and forced a take over bid for his own evil intentions. I've used that agency for quite some time and have always trusted their staff. Now that matter is dealt with I think we can all relax this afternoon." Lady Penelope answered.

"Are we still going to see the horses?" Ruth asked. "If you'd rather do something else I can always do some baking instead."

"Of course I would love to show you my horses," Lady Penelope told her. "That's what I mean by relaxing. Why Gordon dear, you've found something to wear after all!" she suddenly said as noticed the new shirt he was now dressed in.

"Yeah, it's what Grandma bought for me," Gordon told her.

"That suits you very well." she told him. "You can go outside now if you want to. It's such a nice day.

After lunch Jeff, Lady Penelope and Ruth prepared to go down to the stables.

"Anybody else want to come with us?" Jeff asked his sons.

"I thought about playing that grand piano in the music room," Virgil said, hoping to get away from Gordon and his sea jokes; he'd heard the first section already.

"We're going to have a game of pool," Scott indicated to John as being the brother who was to be his partner for the game. He hoped too, that Gordon wouldn't be interested in joining them.

"I played pool with Virgil this morning," Gordon said, "I'll go along with you to the stables."

After the four of them had left the house Virgil said. "Where's he left that darned book? Can't we hide it somewhere until it's time to go home?

"Knowing him, he'll have hidden it somewhere safe away from us, "Scott replied. "Why did Grandma get him that, for Pete's sake? If I have to listen to any more sea jokes, I'll feel like drowning him."

John smiled and said. "I'm surprised he's gone with them. I thought the only horses he was interested in were sea horses. Tell you what though guys, we could all go for a ride around the estate later with Gordon. We can use the Land Rover. There's plenty to see that will take his mind off those jokes."

………………………………………………………………………………………….

Down at the stables the two occupants were being introduced to two of Lady Penelope's guests. "This is Goldie and this is Star," she told them, as she fed them each an apple. My deer keeper looks after them for me and exercises them when I am unable to. I keep two to be company for each other. Sometimes I bring FAB 3 down here, too, when she is not being entered for races for a while. Her trainer comes and looks after her when she does."

"I can see why they are named," Gordon replied as he stroked the muzzle of a black horse with a white star shape on her forehead.

"My Katy was a chestnut brown," Ruth told them as she began re-telling scenes of her girlhood while stroking Goldie's muzzle.

Gordon was just as surprised as John was over his grandmother's revelation that she once rode a horse.

"I've never been interested in horse riding," Gordon admitted. "I prefer something that I have complete control over. I mean a horse has its own brain to work its movements even if it's well trained. I guess Alan might like something that he could ride fast on though, if he got the chance."

"Yes, well, I don't think the island is a suitable place to keep a horse, so he can stick to cars," Jeff answered not wanting Gordon to encourage Alan in that direction.

After a while Gordon became restless and decided to go and find his brothers and leave the others with the horses or wherever they wanted to go to next. He wanted to inflict a few more sea jokes on whichever brother he found first.

The unlucky brother was Virgil who had been enjoying playing the fine old grand piano in the music room. He'd found some old music sheets inside the piano stool that dated from late Victorian England. They were probably used for evening entertainments. Now he was having great fun in bringing old songs and tunes back to life after so long.

Virgil stopped playing as soon as he saw his younger brother appear and prepared himself for another bout of jokes being inflicted on him. Gordon surprised him, however, by saying, "That sounds great Virg, different to what you usually play."

"It's just some old music I found," he replied and then asked. "How were the horses? I didn't expect you back so soon."

"Okay I guess. I've left the others down there with them. Did you know Grandma used to have her own horse once?" he answered.

"Grandma, on a horse?" Virgil smiled at the thought. "Somehow I just can't imagine her doing that."

"Speaking of horses, Virg, what has six legs and rides a horse?" Gordon asked his brother.

"I don't know and further more I don't care Gordon," Virgil replied as he stood up to put the music sheets away.

"It's easy, Billy the Squid," Gordon told him, whether Virgil wanted to know or not.

Virgil was about to leave the room to get away from Gordon before more jokes like that were fired at him. Gordon's eyes fell on a guitar sitting on a chair. "How 'bout a duet?" he asked Virgil.

"Sure, it's ages since we did that," Virgil answered with enthusiasm, pleased that Gordon had decided not to tell any more jokes for a while. "How about playing 'Seattle Shadows?'

The musical sounds made by the two brothers could be heard when Jeff, Ruth and Lady Penelope passed the music room while on their way back to the house. "That sounds so nice, Jeff," Lady Penelope remarked. "It's been a while since the music room had real musicians in it. I only play the piano occasionally and I'm nowhere near as good as Virgil is at it."

"Gordon should apply himself a bit more and he would be a good musician, too, instead of messing around playing pranks all the time." Jeff answered, thinking how much those two sons had inherited their mother's musical talent. It always made him feel emotional inside when he thought of how proud she would be to hear them both playing now.

They went around to the main entrance and Lady Penelope saw the Land Rover parked outside. "I wonder why that's there, unless the boys have plans to go out for a drive," she said. "If they do, I think we can just relax for a while. I'm sure you'll feel the benefit, Jeff, you don't get much of a chance. You, too, Mrs Tracy. I insist you rest after yesterday's ordeal. Jeff, we can go in the lounge because I don't feel like using the library much until my antiques are safely back and in their place. We can listen to a little music on the radio or watch some television."

Jeff was thinking how much he could do with being at home and catching up on some work he had waiting for him. He'd already contacted his office in New York to cancel a video conference he'd planned for today. He was a man who rarely relaxed. Even when sitting still, his mind was on his Tracy Aerospace projects when things were quiet on the rescue front. It was no use trying to tell his elegant hostess that, she just never seemed to realize the importance of his business interests to him.

The truth was though, that Lady Penelope realized only too well, but was determined to get Jeff to have a break even if it was a very short one.

John and Scott came down the stairs of the main hall just as the others were coming in from outside. "Enjoy seeing the horses, Grandma?" John asked. "I hope you didn't get any crazy ideas like trying to go riding again."

"It might be hard for us to rescue you if you got into trouble and the horse bolted," Scott smiled as he put his arm around her shoulders. "None of us can ride, you see, and both our 'birds would probably spook the horse even more."

Virgil and Gordon joined them at this point and Virgil asked, "What's up? Has Grandma been riding a horse?"

"No, not yet anyway," Scott answered him.

"You've already had an unexpected trip to France, Grandma," John added. "This time the horse could take you to Scotland at full gallop."

"Now, you boys, don't think because I'm old I'm not above riding a horse, and if I did, I would certainly know how to handle it," she replied smiling at John. She continued saying, "I dare say I could even run and climb up a tree if I needed to John, DEAR."

John went red and clammed up knowing what his grandmother was implying. One thing he didn't want was his encounter with Ruby to be made known. He suddenly changed the subject and said to his brothers, "Come on, Parker's brought the Land Rover down for us. Let's go for a drive around the estate now."

"Be careful, John, read the notices about safe places to stop," Lady Penelope told him.

"Keep Gordon out of the fish pond." Jeff said to Scott and Virgil. "Don't be too late coming back for dinner. You'll need to rest before we go home."

"Okay, Dad, I'll get them back soon enough," John told him as they went out of the door.

…………………………………………………………………………………………

Jeff looked fondly at his mother who had finished drinking her afternoon tea and had begun dozing off in front of the television set.

"She did that yesterday in the library," Lady Penelope whispered, when she also noticed her sleeping guest. "That's when I got distracted by that dreadful man. At least she'll be safe now with both of us here to watch over her."

"Yes she likes to have a little afternoon rest at home," Jeff whispered back to her. "She always tells us that she's going to straighten up her room but we all know why she goes there."

"At least she's not baking. Parker told me that Lily my cook, was a little upset about her going to the kitchen," Lady Penelope told him. "You see the poor girl isn't used to my guests going there and it makes her feel awkward. That sort of thing just isn't done in very formal houses. I know you are a lot more relaxed about such things in America."

They stopped talking as the afternoon news began on the television and yesterday's events were featured. Pictures of the gang flashed on to the screen and International Rescue were praised for their part in the criminals being caught. Then the press conference came on with Lady Penelope relating the events that led to the gang's capture. Some pressmen were clamouring for photographs of Ruth or Jeff and asking for interviews with them. Jeff smiled when one newspaper was offering a large sum of money for her story.

"Good job she's asleep," Jeff said in a low voice. "She might have taken him up on the offer and donated the money to charity."

"I'm not so sure, Jeff," Lady Penelope argued. "Your mother seemed to act very well yesterday regarding security. I noticed that when Scott and Virgil came with me in the farmhouse. Nobody would guess she was their grandmother the way she acted in front of them."

"You missed a better performance between her and Gordon," Jeff laughed

…………………………………………………………………………………………

John had driven his brothers around the roads of the estate he'd been on with his grandmother and Lady Penelope previously. Virgil had borrowed John's camera and took some photographs of the mansion from the distance through the trees, with a view to painting the scene sometime. They had stopped at the Home Farm where more photographs of the fields and surrounding countryside were taken.

"Man, this would have been an interesting farm to have lived on when we were kids," Gordon remarked. "All those animals and buildings. It looks better than just wheat fields and a barn and other outbuildings."

"All that different farm machinery to tinker on with, too," Virgil agreed. "More than just a tractor and a combine harvester."

"Come on let's go through the deer park. You can take some more pictures there, Virg," John told him. "You have to read the notices though and stay in the car. Some of those deer are not as docile as they look. I never did get to see what was at the other end, so it could be interesting."

They drove through and John kept a careful lookout for Ruby but failed to spot her amongst the herd of red deer that they passed. Virgil was enthusiastic at the sight of the creatures and took lots of photographs of them.

"Virg, your piano will be covered in dust by the time you finished painting everything you've seen," Scott laughed.

"I'll just select the best ones," he told his eldest brother. "I can't paint every one of them."

When they reached the other end of the park they found that it opened up to a smaller park. There was a menagerie of birds and small animals, a small cafeteria that was still open and a children's adventure playground. Visitors were sitting around watching their children playing in the afternoon sunshine or sitting on seats eating ice cream.

John parked the Land Rover beside the other cars and the four brothers got out.

"Hey this looks like fun," Gordon said. "I could just eat an ice cream about now."

"Well then you have a problem, don't you?" John told him. "I bet there's no money in your pants pocket."

"I've got some British money," Virgil said. "I like to keep some small amounts on me for when I come to Penny's place. I've got enough for ice cream."

"Me too," Scott added. "I bet you have some, too, John."

"Funnily enough, I have," he answered.

"Aw, come on guys, surely you've enough between you to buy me some," Gordon pleaded.

"What do you think guys, should we donate some of our hard earned money to his cause?" Scott asked Virgil and John.

Virgil smiled and said, "Let's discuss this and see if we can come up with a deal."

Leaving Gordon standing where he was, his three brothers moved away and began whispering amongst themselves. Returning, Virgil informed him, "Okay, we've come up with a deal. Ice cream for free if no more sea jokes are told today. Full repayment of the ice cream cost plus one dollar interest for every joke told if the deal is broken, agreed?"

Gordon smiled, "Yeah, sure I'll agree to that."

"Come on, let's go and get some before the place closes," John told them.

"I hope they have chocolate flavour," Scott said as they walked to the cafeteria.

After eating their ice cream they had a look at the menagerie. There were various small birds in an aviary and rabbits in one large pen and guinea pigs in the other, running around happily. Virgil and Gordon were leaning over watching them. Scott and John sat down on a nearby bench. "You okay, now?" Scott asked his blonde brother. "No more guilty feelings?"

"I guess not," John replied. "It's been good having you all here like this. I thought I'd be getting away from you all but I've enjoyed today. It's been different."

"See, I told you. No one's blamed you or even mentioned your absence when Grandma went missing. You underestimate us all sometimes," Scott told him. "Yes, I've enjoyed today, too, apart from little brother and that darned book."

"I think we should be getting back soon for dinner," John said, looking at his watch. "You and Virg need to rest up for a while before you go home."

"So, what's your plans for the next two days?" Scott asked him.

"I want to go back up to London to do a little sight-seeing," John replied. "I want to go to the old Royal Observatory in Greenwich. Grandma and Lady Penelope can come along if they like. I think Grandma might like a river cruise up the Thames."

"Sounds like she might enjoy that. It won't be too tiring for her either," Scott said.

John's cell phone began to ring. He thought at first it may have been a call from the mansion telling him they were going to be late for dinner but it wasn't. It was John's friend, Steve, who had been watching the news and heard John's father mentioned and was concerned about what had happened to his grandmother.

"Yeah she's fine, thanks, and resting today," John told him. "It was a bit of a shock to come back to, so we've kept clear away from the press. The stress of that wouldn't do her much good."

"You'll be twice as popular when you come back here," Steve told him. "Now that you've been involved with International Rescue, the students will want to know all about it."

"Well I won't be able to tell them much," John answered. "I wasn't involved with International Rescue. I only saw them briefly after they caught the crooks. I was more concerned about getting reunited with my grandmother."

After a few more minutes of general conversation the call ended. John sat staring at his cell phone for a few seconds afterwards lost in thought. 'So, according to Steve, Ms Thompson had been asking after me.'

Scott looked at John quizzically, "Well, you got out of that one, okay. I assume he was asking about International Rescue."

"What? Oh Yeah he was and I hate lying to him, Scott," John told him. "He would love to know what I really do. He asked why I quit NASA when I liked it so much. I had to half lie to him then, too."

"I know how you feel, but what can we do if we want to protect ourselves and our machines?" Scott replied.

John sighed, "Yeah, what can we do? Come on, let's get back now. Yell for those two before Gordon has ideas about wanting a new pet to take home with him."

The four brothers returned to the Land Rover and left the park. It was practically deserted now that it was evening and closing up. John drove back through the deer park and it occurred to him that was why he'd never seen Ruby: it was a public admittance day. They arrived back at the mansion just in time to get ready for dinner to be served.

After dinner Virgil and Scott went to their rooms to get some rest before flying home later. The rest of the family relaxed in the lounge watching television.

………………………………………………………………………………………

Darkness fell late because of the bright sunny weather all day and a clear sky. When it did eventually become dark enough to leave Jeff hugged his mother and kissed her. He had suggested that she come back home with him after her ordeal but his mother was having none of that, she was determined to stay with John and Lady Penelope as planned. "Now you take care and enjoy the rest of your stay here," he told her adding, "And just forget about cooking, you're here for a break."

"Alright, Jeff I'll try. Have a safe journey home," she told him, as she kissed him and hugged him to her.

After everybody else said their goodbyes to each other the two huge machines were launched high into the sky. John, Ruth and Lady Penelope watched them leave.

"Best to get some sleep now, it's very late, Grandma," John told her.

"Yes I think we all should, John, dear," Lady Penelope agreed.

"I'll come and get you in the morning, Grandma, don't want you getting lost again, do we?" John told her as they walked back into the house.

"Thank you darling, I'll wait for you," she answered him.

Thunderbird Two soon made short work of the journey home. The journey from darkness to daylight as the huge machine crossed the equator into the southern hemisphere was swift. "We're going to spend half the day in bed now," Jeff remarked. Scott will probably be asleep by the time we get home."

"Yeah it's a whole new day," Gordon grinned. "Say, Virg, What lies under the sea and shakes a lot?"

Virgil kept silent, knowing now why Gordon was so keen to make the deal with the ice cream. He just had to wait a few hours to keep his side of the bargain. "You don't know?" Gordon answered for him. "A nervous wreck."

"Keep that up and you'll be a nervous wreck once we get home," Virgil threatened. "Dad, can't you confiscate that book until we get home?" he pleaded with his father.

"Alright, that'll do, Gordon. Go and get some sleep in the living quarters, and let Virgil concentrate on what he's doing," Jeff told his fourth born.

"Sure thing, Dad," Gordon answered. "Then I can go for a swim when we get back."

…………………………………………………………………………………………


	7. Chapter 7

DAY FIVE

"It's just the three of us again for breakfast," Lady Penelope remarked as John and Ruth came into the dining room. "Just as it was before that dreadful business took place and spoiled your visit."

"I was thinking about taking Grandma out for a drive today in the Land Rover," John told his hostess. "Just to a local tourist spot, not very far. Can you suggest anywhere suitable?"

"Well there's a small zoo at Swallowdene. It's about eight miles away. They have nice gardens, too, where you can walk around and admire the flowers and plants, there's a shop, too, where you can buy the plants on show. I have some from there in my garden. I'm usually invited to open their annual flower show in June. I would come with you but I'm expecting a call from the police about my antiques," Lady Penelope answered.

"Would you like to go there, Grandma?" John asked. "Then the three of us can go up to London tomorrow and see some more sights."

"Yes, thank you, John, that sounds just right," his grandmother replied.

"That's all settled then," Lady Penelope replied. "There's a map in the Land Rover, John. After our trip up to London tomorrow I intend to hold a small party in the evening before you leave us the following day. I've invited some close friends and also invited Charles Leroux and his family, just as a token of thanks for his help in catching those thieves."

"Hear that, Grandma? You're going to a party!" John asked Ruth. "You'll love that."

"Oh my, I'll look forward to that, too," Ruth smiled. "A party in a stately home in England. I never expected to be going to one of those."

John found Swallowdene Zoo and Gardens without too much trouble and both he and Ruth were enjoying a rest in the café after looking at the animals. John was studying the visitors guide book while drinking some tea. "The gardens sound okay, Grandma. They have some rare species and plants for all climates and soils. You could buy some in the gift shop and take them back home with you for the garden. Kyrano would like that better than anything else."

"Oh he would," she agreed. "It was so difficult to find something suitable for a gift for him in London. I would like to buy him something extra."

After spending about two hours touring the vast exhibitions of plants both outside and under various glass domes that simulated different climates. John and his grandmother went into the shop. Plants that were hardy enough to grow in most climates were on sale and for those of a more delicate nature a catalogue was available for purchases by mail order.

"Take a look at this, Grandma. If you can remember the names of the plants you liked, look under the Tropical Section," John told her as he opened a catalogue.

After choosing some colourful tropical lilies and some orchids, John placed the order and chose a few plants for himself to buy from the shop to keep some in his room and the rest on Thunderbird Five. "We'd better be going now, Grandma. By the time we get back to Penny's place it will be time for dinner. Then you can rest before your next trip to London tomorrow."

"Yes, all that walking around has made me tired," she answered as they went back to

the Land Rover, now parked amid a sea of vehicles.

"This place must be popular," John said as he helped his grandmother into her seat. He carefully loaded the plants into the boot of the Land Rover then got in and began the return journey to Foxleyheath.

"I've enjoyed today, John," Ruth told him. "It was good of you to take me. Thank you, darling."

"My pleasure, Grandma," John told her. "After what happened the other day, I wanted to give you a day out to take your mind off it."

She looked at his clear blue eyes and she suspected he felt if he'd been there, she might not have been abducted. She smiled at him and tried to relieve his anxiety. "I suppose I can add France to the list of places I've been to now. I'm sure your Grand-daddy would never have believed that I'd swap sitting in a farmhouse in Kansas to one in France. I just wished we'd had the time or the money to travel together on vacations the way people do now."

"Would he have enjoyed going to a party in a stately home?" John asked.

"I think not, he was just a hard working farmer," Ruth replied. "He'd probably feel uncomfortable and out of place amongst fancy folk. Lady Penelope may have made him feel comfortable and welcome though. She is not like most fancy folk, is she?"

She changed the subject by saying, "You never told me how your visit to your friend went, John?"

"I enjoyed it, Grandma," John answered. "Steve and his wife made me welcome. They have two little boys now. The place where he works is fantastic and the students were really interested in what I had to say."

"That's nice, sweetie, I'm pleased you enjoyed it, "Ruth told him. "I hope you plan to go again and stay a little longer next time."

"I hope to. Steve's asked me back." John replied. "I don't know when it will be though. I have to relieve Alan in the space station when I get back and the others are all due some leave next."

Ruth looked at him and thought how much she hated having two of her grandsons so far away for so long. She was enjoying having this blonde haired, quiet young man all to herself. Ever since she had come to live with Jeff and his children she'd hardly ever had the opportunity to spend this amount of time with just John

"I expect your friend Steve, was wondering if you intended to settle down and get married so he could visit you," she remarked. "You're a handsome boy, John. Its time you or one of your brothers did. There's only Alan that's giving me hope of seeing great-grandchildren so far."

"You know how Dad feels about us getting involved with anyone," John answered. "Security has to come first, that's what's instilled in us"

"Yes, well one of these days your Daddy is going to have to listen to me telling him just what I think of his security." Ruth told him. "Your father needs to get his head down from the moon and do some real thinking for a change."

They arrived back at the manor and Lady Penelope instructed Parker to put the plants John had bought into the conservatory until they left to go home.

"I'm pleased you both had a nice day," she told her guests. "Dinner will be served soon if you'd like to get ready for it."

"We ordered some tropical plants to be delivered to the island," Ruth told her as she watched John and Parker unload the Land Rover. "There were so many to choose from, it was hard to make up my mind which ones to order."

While they were having dinner Lady Penelope told them the latest news about her stolen antiques. "They've been photographed for evidence and listed as mine. I'm so pleased none of them were damaged. They told me I can expect them back within the next few days."

"That's good. Everybody else that had theirs stolen around the same time can expect theirs back, too," John answered. "I just wish I'd known about that tunnel when I thought I heard mice scratching about. I could have caught them red-handed."

"Never mind, John, dear," she told him. "The workmen are coming to brick that tunnel up now, so we won't have that little problem anymore."

Parker cleared away the dishes for the main course and put them in the dumb waiter to be returned to the kitchen. Lil sent the dessert course up and Parker smiled to himself as he served out apple pie and fresh cream to those sitting at the table.

"H'I'll just get the coffee now, M'Lady," he told his employer after he finished serving.

"Oh my, this apple pie tastes different to the ones I make," Ruth remarked.

"What's up, Grandma?" John asked. "It tastes good to me."

"It does taste good, John. I admit that, just different that's all," Ruth told him as she ate another spoonful. She sat thinking a while then said, "I know what it is. Your cook's added a little cinnamon to the apple instead of sugar. I could never get that right and always made them too sweet. I stopped using it years ago. She's got it just right. I'll have to try that again when I get home."

"Lily always makes her apple pies this way," Lady Penelope smiled. "Parker, be sure to let Lily know how much we all enjoyed it."

"H'I will, M'Lady, just h'as soon h'as h'I get cleared h'up h'in 'ere." Parker replied and tried to imagine how Lil would react to the news.

After dinner they retired to the lounge and discussed what they planned to do in London again the next day.

Down in the kitchen, Parker had relayed the news about the apple pie to Lil, "So she liked it, did she?" The cook asked him. "I thought she may 'ave 'ad something to say about it not being as good as 'ers or something."

"She's not bad once you get to know 'er," Parker told her. "She just h'enjoys cookin' h'a lot."

"Well even if she does, I don't like 'avin' strangers in my kitchen," Lil replied.

"One day h'I might just tell 'er that you win prizes for your h'apple pies h'at the village show," Parker said. "That'll surprise 'er.

"I'll surprise 'er even more when I make the party food tomorrow," Lil smiled. "I'm pleased they're all going out for the day, gives me plenty of time to work at it."

Later that evening John was in his room looking out once again at the stars. He thought about the conversation he'd had with his grandmother on the journey home from Swallowdene Park.

"If you can get through to Dad to do something about his security rules, Grandma, you'd be the only one that can," he said out loud to whichever star was nearest. He'd enjoyed today and having his grandmother for company, strange though it may have looked for a man his age to do. He hadn't been out with his grandmother like that for years and after what happened to her while he was away, he was glad he'd got the chance to do it.

………………………………………………………………………………………

DAY SIX

After breakfast, Parker drove Lady Penelope, Ruth and John up to London as arranged. He parked the Rolls as close as he could to the tourist attractions in Greenwich that John wanted to see. It was close enough, too, to get to the pier for the planned boat trip later.

"Thank you, Parker," Lady Penelope said, once all the passengers were out. "We will take the monorail home later. You can go ahead with making arrangements for the dinner party this evening."

"Very good, M'Lady," Parker replied. "H'I've got to see to the builders coming, too. Just let me know when you h'all need picking h'up from the station later."

John saw a tourist sign that pointed the way to the buildings that were open to the public and Greenwich Park. "I don't think Grandma will be very interested in going around the Old Observatory," he remarked. "Perhaps she'd like to see the Queens House. That way we can save time and I'll meet you over there later."

"You're right, John," Ruth told him. "I'd much rather see the Queen's House."

"Good idea, John. Astronomy is a little above my head, too. If you pardon the expression," Lady Penelope agreed. "We'll admire some nice old furniture and antiques instead."

They parted company and John headed straight for the series of buildings that made up the Old Royal Observatory. He enjoyed going through the house in which John Flamsteed, the first Astronomer Royal lived and also his successor Edmund Halley. He marveled at the early telescopes they had used and mentally compared them to what was used now. 'They did the job though,' he thought to himself. 'I haven't discovered a comet with mine … yet.'

Not far away, Ruth was also enjoying her tour around the Queen's House with Lady Penelope. "I think your house is bigger than this one," Ruth remarked.

"Oh but this one is more impressive than mine and it has the distinction of being the first Italian style building in England," Lady Penelope told her. "There used to be a rather large palace here in Greenwich in medieval times. It tells you all about it in this guide book."

They walked through the rooms admiring the paintings and furniture. "I think it's a shame it's not lived in now," Ruth said. "All of these pretty things not being used, at least yours is still lived in. I've been meaning to ask you about that picture in my room, the one above the fireplace of Lady Ann Kerr-Doulton. Who was she?"

Lady Penelope thought hard for a while. "Oh Lady Ann, she's an ancestor of mine. She married Sir Henry Creighton-Ward. He was the son of the first Creighton-Ward that bought the house. She was a tragic figure. She had ten children and six of them died young, as was often the case in those days. She died after falling from a horse while out riding. Her youngest children were twin girls less than a year old. Luckily her eldest son survived to inherit the estate."

"Oh my, how sad," Ruth answered.

"Yes, she left two sons and two daughters. Her husband was so distraught at her death they feared for his sanity. He never remarried like most men in his position would have done in those days," Lady Penelope told her. "He rarely left the estate and dropped out of society. All he wanted to do was devote himself to raising his remaining children and his wife's memory. She loved roses and he designed the Rose Garden and planted and cared for the roses himself. They say he spent many hours there just sitting reading by himself or with his children."

………………………………………………………………………………………….

John was still mingling with other tourists in the Old Observatory and had joined a guided tour. He took some photographs of the meridian line standing like many other visitors before him, with one foot in the eastern hemisphere of the earth and the other in the west. Then looking at his watch, he thought it was time to go and meet the others. He hoped they would have finished their tour of the Queens House by now.

He couldn't see any sign of his grandmother or Lady Penelope when he reached there. So he had a quick look inside the Maritime Museum next door and was pleased to see another huge telescope on display amid an exhibition of clocks and other old instruments used by sailors. He was particularly interested in the first radios used on ships. By the time he had finished it was getting on for lunch time and he hoped his two companions were outside and waiting for him.

Emerging from the building, he was pleased to see that they were there and sitting in the sunshine in the park. After getting reunited they went for some lunch and then down to the pier where a brightly coloured boat was waiting for them to take them for sail up the Thames.

"I hope I enjoy it and don't feel sick like I did on that boat going to France," Ruth said. "I'm not used to sailing."

"You'll be fine, Grandma," John assured her. "This isn't like being on the sea."

"We can see so many things to keep your mind off being ill," Lady Penelope told her to give her extra re-assurance. "You can see so many of London's sights from the river."

"Let me know if you want me to take any photographs for you," John said.

The tour guide on the boat pointed out the many historic and modern buildings on both sides of the river. The cruise lasted for about two hours before the passengers were brought back to their starting point at Greenwich. "I feel like I've really seen London now," Ruth said. "It's just so big."

"Glad you enjoyed it, Grandma," John said as he helped her off the boat first and then Lady Penelope. "You said you always wanted to see London."

"I think it's time for afternoon tea and then we ought to be getting back to get ready for the dinner party," Lady Penelope stated. "It just doesn't do to be late for one's guests."

Parker was waiting for them at Foxleyheath Station when the monorail drew to halt. "H'I 'ope you h'all 'ad a good day," he said to them as soon as they were all comfortably seated in FAB 1.

"Thank you, Parker we have all had a wonderful time. Is everything arranged for this evening?" Lady Penelope asked.

"Yes, Madam, h'and the builders 'ave been to 'ave a look at the tunnel," Parker told her. "They thought h'it best to block h'it from both h'ends b'tween the 'ouse h'and the h'estate wall. They h'also said h'it would be best to brick h'up the h'entrance be'ind the bookcase panel, too."

"Good heavens, that is a lot of work!" Lady Penelope exclaimed.

"It makes sense though, Penny," John told her. "You'll be much more secure that way."

"You're right, John, of course I will," She agreed. "I do hope they don't make too much of a noise or a mess either."

"H'I'll keep h'an h'eye h'on the cleaners this time h'if they do." Parker added.

After arriving back at the mansion, it was nearly time to get ready for the dinner party. The first guests were expected to arrive within the next hour and a half, giving them just about time to get showered and changed in preparation for meeting them.

John was pleased he had remembered to put something to wear for a formal occasion in with his luggage. He had anticipated that Lady Penelope may have wanted to give them a little send off with a party of some sort. He checked himself in the mirror to see if his evening suit looked okay. It was, but his tie that was supposed to be fastened in the shape of a neat black bow was anything but straight or neat.

"Darned stupid thing," he said out loud as he flung the offending item on his bed. "I hate ties."

Usually it was Scott who came to his rescue, and had done for as long as he could remember when it came to putting a tie on. John took to wearing casual shirts or tee shirts as often as he possibly could to avoid the trouble of wearing them. He had long since resigned himself to the fact that his fingers were just incapable of tying them properly, no matter how he tried.

He sat thinking about his predicament, 'No Scott now, Johnnie boy, so you're going to have to do it yourself or find another tie fixer.'

After another failed attempt he draped the tie around his neck and went up to his grandmother's room. He had arranged to meet her in case she got lost again. His hope was that she might just be able to help him.

He knocked on the door and called for her. "Come in, darling, I'm just about ready," she told him.

He found her finishing tidying her hair when he entered. She was wearing the dress she had worn for the show in the London theatre earlier that week.

"Hey, you look nice, Grandma," John told her. "I haven't seen you wear that dress before."

She turned around and smiled at him, "Thanks sweetie, it's not that often I get paid a compliment by a handsome young man, or get the chance to dress up in something fancy. There's not much call for it living on a secret base in the middle of nowhere. Not that I'm complaining about that, there's nowhere else I'd rather be living now than with my family and friends."

"Grandma, I've got a bit of a problem," John began. "Scott's not here and----."

Ruth smiled, "John, darling, you've always had that problem. Sit down! I can't fix your tie for you if I can barely reach your neck. You boys are all so tall now."

She tied it into a perfect bow for him, and gave him a little hug, "There now, you look quite smart."

"Thanks, Grandma," he said. "I just hate ties. I wish I didn't have to bother with them."

"You can't help it darling, you're a Tracy through and through. The only one out of the five of you boys to inherit your Grand-daddy's tie tying affliction. He was just no good at it either," Ruth gently stroked John's cheek. "Every week I had to make sure his tie was on straight before going to church, or if he had to go to the bank to do business with the manager. Good thing he was a farmer and not an office worker or he'd have been late every day for work."

"We're going to be late for the party, Grandma," John reminded her.

"I wasn't expecting this party. I hope there aren't a lot of fancy folk there," Ruth told him. "I just won't know what to say to them."

"Don't worry, Grandma, Penny is a good hostess," John reassured her. "She'll look after you. Come on let's go down and meet them."

They waited to greet the guests in the Library. Parker had tidied it and put a few ornaments from other rooms on the side tables and mantelpiece until the others were returned from the police. Soon the guests began to arrive. Sir Jeremy Hodge and his wife were the first to be introduced to Ruth and John. Then Charles Leroux and his wife entered the room with their son, Pierre. John was pleased to see him as he had not had much of a chance to speak to him when they met earlier. Pierre was the same age as Virgil so John was relieved he had somebody from his own generation to speak to.

Parker served pre-dinner drinks while the guests chatted about the recent events that had taken place.

"Such a dreadful business, dear lady, "Sir Jeremy Hodge said to Ruth. "I'm pleased those bounders didn't hurt you."

"There all safely locked up now," Lady Penelope told him. "Thanks to Charles and the police and International Rescue of course."

"I propose we give a toast to all of them," Sir Jeremy said. "Let's raise our glasses to all of them."

Lady Penelope didn't want to dwell on the subject for too long and began asking about other matters. Parker announced that dinner was served in the Banqueting Room upstairs. Ruth was surprised and nervous when she saw the table set with such beautiful crockery kept for such an occasion. She was equally surprised to be formally led to her seat by Sir Jeremy Hodge and looked anxiously as John had the task of doing the same for Sir Jeremy's wife. However once they were seated, the guests all seemed to relax while the meal was served. Lady Penelope had the technique of entertaining her guests and keeping the conversation flowing down to a fine art.

Ruth was surprised at both the presentation and the taste of the food served. 'That girl must be a genius to have made all of this by herself,' she thought as she began to eat the most delightful salmon dish in front of her.

After dinner the women retired to the drawing room to continue their conversation. John was happy to accompany the men to the games room next door to play pool and get a chance to speak to Charles Leroux and his son. He'd learned that Pierre was a chemist working in a government research laboratory. He and John had a shared interest in athletics, so the two young men found something in which to have common ground to talk about by comparing their own experiences on the running track and those of the sports stars they both admired.

At the end of the evening Ruth was feeling very tired after being up early to go to London and seeing the sights there. The after dinner drinks coupled with missing her afternoon nap made the drowsy feeling worse.

Fortunately the guests were also getting a little tired. Sir Jeremy Hodge and his wife departed for their home in London. The Leroux family was going to stay overnight and Parker showed them to the guest bedrooms they were occupying.

"Come on, Grandma," John said to Ruth after the rest of the guests had gone. "You look tired and we have to travel home tomorrow afternoon."

"I've had such a nice day in London and the dinner party, too, I am a little tired," she admitted. "But I've enjoyed it Lady Penelope, your cook is just wonderful."

"I'm pleased you enjoyed it," Lady Penelope answered. "Now if you need a hand with your packing tomorrow just let me know."

"Thanks, dear," Ruth replied. "I did a little packing yesterday to save some time. Goodnight."

John showed her to her room and said goodnight as he left her to go his own. She went in and got ready for bed. Then her eyes caught the portrait above the fireplace once again and she remembered the story that Lady Penelope had told her earlier that day about Lady Ann Kerr-Doulton.

"You poor dear, losing your babies like that," she told the picture. "Then you having that terrible accident and your poor man left heartbroken. My own son feels the same way now after his wife has been dead over twenty years. He never re-married either."

She got into bed and thought how much she had enjoyed her visit here in spite of what had happened to her. Now she was looking forward to going home again.

Unknown to her though, she was not the only member of her family looking forward to returning home.

…………………………………………………………………………………………


	8. Chapter 8

Thanks to everybody that has taken the time to read and review this, I'm so grateful.

Homeward Bound

In Tasmania three of Ruth's grandsons were also looking forward to going home again after just finishing a rescue at a hotel that had caught fire, trapping some residents. Scott and Virgil were having a rest and a cup of coffee in Thunderbird Two while Gordon was busy driving the Fire Tender back into the Pod and parking it next to the Firefly. Scott got up to make Gordon a cup of coffee for when he joined them.

"I'm not looking forward to the journey back with little brother and his sea jokes," Virgil told Scott. "I was hoping Dad would have kept him back on this one so I could have had some peace. I don't suppose you'd consider helping me out and take him home with you?"

"You're right I won't," Scott answered. "Why don't you let him fly Two back then you can stay in here?"

"I might be getting desperate but not that much!" Virgil exclaimed. "Why don't you let him fly One back and you stay with me?"

"Out of the question," Scott replied. "Look why don't you keep him talking about other things, like movies or music or something?"

"I tried that but he always manages to think of a sea joke about whatever movie we were talking about," Virgil said dejectedly.

"Well find something else to talk about like teachers at school or life in Kansas. That's far away from the sea," Scott told him.

Gordon joined them and took his cup of coffee from Scott. "That's the vehicles loaded," he told his brothers. "Man that fire took some putting out. I thought we were going to run short of dicetylene."

"Did you check the gauge?" Scott asked him.

"Yeah and it's practically empty. We're going to have to refill the tank when we get back," Gordon replied.

Half an hour later they were on their way home. Virgil decided to try Scott's suggestion and hadn't stopped talking to Gordon since Scott left to return to Thunderbird One." Say, Gordon can you remember Mr. Conrad the art teacher at school?"

"Sure, why do you want to talk about him?" Gordon asked.

"He was one of the better teachers," Virgil said. "I liked him."

"He'd no sense of humour as I recall," Gordon told him.

"Yes, but his idea of face painting and your idea of face painting were two different things, no wonder you got detention. Dad wasn't particularly pleased with you either," Virgil continued, "Especially when you said you misunderstood what the teacher meant. You looked like something you see in the circus, so I heard."

"Hey, Virg, what swims around and makes everybody laugh in the sea?" Gordon suddenly asked. "You don't know? I'll tell you. A clown fish!"

Virgil winced and thought at least the journey home wouldn't be far. 'Thanks for your suggestion, Scott, it didn't work' he thought to himself as he braced himself for more of the same sort of terrible jokes as the last one. 'Something has to be done about this before I throw him overboard.'

………………………………………………………………………………………….

Ruth stood watching Parker load her luggage into the boot of FAB 1. "I just can't believe how quickly these few days have gone," she told Lady Penelope and John.

"You must come again, Mrs Tracy," Lady Penelope told her. "There are so many other places you would enjoy going to as well London. We'll have to make arrangements."

"Next time, I hope you don't have any unexpected trips out without us," John laughed.

"Yes, I'd like to come back again," she said to both of them. "I enjoyed the party and meeting your friends. The French lady invited me to stay with them at their home some time, too, when they left this morning. Your cook is so good at what she makes,

the food was so delicious last night I'd really like to have had more time to talk to her about it. It must have taken her hours to prepare it all."

"That's an idea. We could go to there and have a trip to Paris as well. I'll tell Lily how much you enjoyed her cooking," Lady Penelope promised. "Now I think that is everything loaded. You have all your gifts there for everybody. John's plants can sit on top of those, now all the cases are in. We have lots of time to drive up to the airport before your flight at 2 o'clock so let's have some morning coffee before we go."

The journey up to the airport didn't take long. John had been sitting quietly reflecting on his visit to England. Next time he came back here he hoped to be spending more time with Steve and his family. He definitely wouldn't be bringing his grandmother with him on that trip. He loved her dearly but he had his own plans for what he wanted to do and who he wanted to meet so they couldn't possibly include her.

Lady Penelope and Parker helped them bring their luggage, Grandma's presents for the family and John's plants through to the airport lounge and waited while they checked in for their flight.

"I always hate this part, saying goodbye to people," Lady Penelope told them. "I've really enjoyed having you both staying with me. Although it was unfortunate circumstances, you even brought the rest of the family over for a short visit, too. You know all of you are welcome any time."

"We know that Penny and you are always welcome to stay with us," John told her as he gave her a quick kiss and a hug. "Thanks for your hospitality."

Ruth also shared a farewell kiss with Lady Penelope. Parker was not forgotten as they shook hands with him and thanked him for all he had done for them during their stay.

Their gate call came up and Ruth and John left to board the Fireflash to return home.

"We'll be seeing some other countries on our way home this time, Grandma," John said. "This time we are going the other way round the world to New Zealand. I wonder who will be meeting us there to take us home."

………………………………………………………………………………………..

It was Jeff who decided to go to meet them. In spite of Virgil's protests, he thought it best to leave the base covered in case an emergency call came through. He sat waiting in the airport lounge, drinking coffee from the machine and reading a newspaper. He was hoping the plane would arrive on schedule.

He was relieved when the announcement came over the speakers that the plane had landed. Putting down the paper, he waited and then scanned the passengers pouring through the arrivals gate. At last, he spotted John's tall frame and his blonde hair which made him stand out from the rest of the crowd. Jeff stood up and went to meet them.

"Hi, Dad!" John said with surprise. He was expecting to see Scott or Virgil meeting them.

"Hi, son, have a good flight home?" he asked him.

"Sure, no problems," John answered.

"What about you, Mom?" he asked after giving her a kiss and hugging her to him.

"Well I'm okay, and can't wait to get home now, Jeff," she answered.

"We won't be long, just waiting for the luggage and then we'll be off to home," Jeff smiled and took her to the seat while they waited.

She told him about the places she had visited with John and Lady Penelope during the last two days of her visit then she suddenly remarked, "This time difference gets me all confused, Jeff. We only left London four hours ago and it was a hot and sunny afternoon. Now it's early in the morning and it's cold and dark."

Jeff smiled at her, "Don't worry it happens all the time to the boys when they go out to other parts of the world then return home. We'll be back for breakfast and in the warm sunshine on the island again soon."

"That's what I mean. I had my breakfast at Lady Penelope's house and lunch on the plane," his mother answered with a puzzled look on her face. "I must have lost half a day somewhere if I'm going to eat breakfast again. Although I thought it was strange when we first got there and Penny said you'd all be in bed after I left you at breakfast time then."

"Luggage is here, Dad," John told him. "We can get going now."

Jeff was relieved, trying to explain to his mother about planes flying at Mach six this time in the morning was not what he had in mind.

…………………………………………………………………………………………

The others on the island were all up and waiting to greet Ruth and John. Virgil had decided to stay in his room until they arrived, mainly to avoid Gordon who seemed to target him more than anybody else to tell his jokes to. He was lying on his bed reading when Scott knocked on the door and asked if he could enter.

"Sure, come in, Scott," Virgil told him.

"Just had a message to say Dad's on his way with Grandma and John," Scott announced.

"That's good. I wish Dad had let me go though," Virgil said.

"Gordo's jokes getting to you huh?" Scott asked.

"You bet they are! I'm going to do something drastic to him soon," Virgil replied.

"Okay we'll wait until John gets back, then here's what we'll do." Scott told him.

…………………………………………………………………………………………

"John, do you feel fit enough to go up to Five with Scott to bring Alan down later? Jeff asked as they loaded the luggage into the jet. "Put Five on auto until you're ready to go back up there for your spell of duty. Tin Tin's arranged a small party for Grandma to welcome her back after what happened and I would like him to be here

and I'm sure she would want the whole family here, too."

"Okay, Dad, I'll get some rest first after I have something to eat," John told him.

The jet touched down on the runway of Tracy Island and the rest of the Tracys along with Brains, Tin Tin and Kyrano were waiting to meet them.

After the hugs, kisses and welcomes were over. Jeff said to his sons, "Can one of you do the after-flight checks on the jet and the other three get the luggage? I'm going back up with Grandma and these bags she had with her in the plane."

Scott and Virgil both hurried to the cockpit of the plane. It was a move that Virgil won in triumph. Smiling he said, "Sorry, Scott, but the job's mine."

Gordon and John had already begun to unload the luggage. They began with the plants first. "Whose are these?" Gordon asked.

"Mine, so go easy with them," John told him. "Grandma ordered some tropical lilies and orchids for Kyrano. They should be delivered any day now."

By the time they'd loaded the luggage and plants on to the elevator Virgil had finished the checks. "That's that done. If you've finished with the luggage, let's go for a cup of coffee." He saw John's plants and asked, "More plants for your room, John? It'll be like sleeping in the garden before long."

Before John had a chance to say anything Gordon said. "What plants are blue and grow under the sea? I s'pose I have to tell you guys, dolphiniams."

Scott looked at Virgil and they both seized Gordon. "Come on, John, lend a hand if you want some peace!" Scott told him.

"Lemme go, you guys have no sense of humour," Gordon protested.

They pushed Gordon into a nearby workshop and put him on a bench. "So we've got no sense of humour?" said Scott.

"We don't think your jokes are funny that's all," Virgil added.

"But seeing as you do, we thought we'd give you something to laugh about," Scott told him.

One thing Scott had quickly learned about his second youngest brother was that as a baby and small boy he was very ticklish and still was. So when his three brothers began tickling his sides he was reduced to fits of uncontrollable laughter that made his face red as his hair and breathless. "Was that funny enough for you?" Scott finally asked him

"And if you want to tell any more of those sea jokes, tell them to Grandma," Virgil said. "She bought you the book in the first place."

"So you know what to expect now if one more joke is told to any of us," Scott warned him. "Is that understood?"

Without waiting for an answer they left their still breathless brother on the bench to recover while they went upstairs to the lounge.

…………………………………………………………………………………………

Later, when John and Scott had returned with Alan, that evening, Ruth sat amongst her family and friends and thought how happy she was to be back home with them. Tin Tin and Kyrano had provided a wonderful selection of food for her homecoming and now as the celebration drinks were served she said, "Now what's a party without a few surprises? Gordon, darling, help me bring some things I have in my room.

They returned with a few bags carried by Ruth. Gordon carried a box wrapped in brown paper and string.

"I bought these things when I first went to London with Lady Penelope," Ruth began. "I thought at one time, I might never be able to give them to you or see any of you again. I was spared, however, and now back with my wonderful family and friends, I just want to say how much I love all of you."

"We love you, too, Grandma," Scott told her on behalf of all present, "Don't we everybody?"

After everybody confirmed Scott's statement, Ruth said, "Well I guess I should hand these gifts out now before we all start crying. They are just a few things you may like. Lend me a hand, Gordon, seeing as you have had yours already."

"Yes, unfortunately," said Virgil as he smiled at Gordon, daring him to tell one more joke.

The presents were handed around. Scott and Virgil got bottles of their favourite aftershave. John got a shirt with a small pattern of stars and planets on. Brains also got a shirt but his was a more sober one that was more his style. Tin Tin was given a bottle of her favourite perfume. Kyrano, who had been the most difficult to choose for was given some extra long incense sticks that he used for his meditations. "You have something else to come later when they arrive," she told him.

The last bag was for Alan and Ruth hugged him to her and gave him a kiss, "Thank you, sweetheart, for being so alert. I hoped and prayed you would be and you didn't let me down."

Alan fought to blink back the tears that had welled up in his eyes as he thought how he felt when his beloved grandmother was missing. Ruth gave him another hug. "Here's your gift, sweetie."

Alan opened the bag to reveal a shirt similar in style to Gordon's but it had the print of red and yellow racing cars on it. There was also a movie about the history of the sport and the earliest cars. "Gee thanks, Grandma," he said as he quickly kissed her cheek and sat back down with his gifts.

"Now for one more," she said as she looked at Jeff. "I saw this and thought of you right away and it might just look good with another object that is similar. Thank you son, for thinking up the idea of International Rescue, I'm so proud of you and all you have built up here."

She kissed him and said, "I hope you like it, son."

Jeff quietly opened the box while the others stood looking curiously on. He smiled as he pulled the small white marble statue of 'The Thinker' out of the box and held it up. "Thanks, Mom, I love it and will treasure it always."

"He even looks a bit like you, Dad!" Gordon remarked.

Kyrano served some more drinks and they went back into party mood. Gordon was keeping away from his elder brothers and sat reading the back of Alan's movie to see what it contained.

"What did you get, Gordie?" Alan asked.

"I'll show you," he told him and went to his room and came back wearing his dolphin patterned shirt."

"Hey that's cool," Alan told him. "What else did you get?"

"This," he answered as he showed him his book. "Say, Alan, what did the boy octopus say to the girl octopus?

"I don't know," Alan answered.

"I want to hold your hand, hand, hand, hand, hand, hand, hand, hand," Gordon replied laughing as he counted eight fingers in line with his joke.

"Gordon, that's the worst so far. You mind what I said to you earlier," Scott told him.

"You said I would know what to expect if I told any of you three another joke," Gordon smiled back at him. "I didn't, I told Al here so that let's me off the hook."

"That's a neat book," Alan said. "I'll have to look it over sometime."

"All I can say is Thunderbird Five, here I come and the sooner the better," John laughed.

Later that night Ruth lay in her own familiar bed clutching her silver locket. She spoke to her beloved husband's photograph again and told him about the family that he had left behind and the party held for her that evening. After she said a prayer of thanks she had survived her ordeal at the hands of those criminals she fell into a deep and contented sleep.

The end.


End file.
